HSE internal report - Findings an indictment of service

THE horrific rape and barbaric torture of four daughters by their father, who was jailed for life last week, has refocused the spotlight of public opinion on Ireland’s appalling crisis of child abuse and the role of the health service in this atrocity.

To inform debate, the Irish Examiner today publishes the findings of an internal HSE report which throws new light on its performance in the area of childcare. It is a revealing insight into this dark corner of Irish life.

Significantly, the document coincides with the launch of an internal HSE probe to discover why information was not passed by one health board in the east of the country to its counterpart in the west, of what was known about the risks posed to children by this father. The investigation must establish why, despite coming to the notice of the health service in 2000, nine years passed before the perpetrator was finally arrested.