Clarification on ‘Grace’ reports: No reason to conceal reports

One of the most frustrating things about trying to move the idea of accountability to the centre of public life is the dance of the seven veils anyone trying to get to the bottom of an important public issue must indulge in to get to something that might, just might, be the truth.

The standard rebuff is the threadbare “we don’t discuss specific cases”. Another old reliable is the one that suggests an issue cannot be discussed because it might be the subject of a Garda investigation. Best of all, of course, is “that matter is sub judice”. End of.

There are sometimes valid reasons for these discretions, but it is hard not to think that these conventions are sometimes too frequently invoked.

One such instance came to light yesterday when it was discovered that Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan has told the HSE that two reports into the “Grace” scandal — the rape, physical abuse, and neglect of up to 40 children or young adults at a foster home over two decades — may be published and that An Garda Síochána had no objection to their publication.

The reports have been a bone of contention for some years, with the health authority insisting that they could not be published as a Garda investigation might be jeopardised.

Commissioner O’Sullivan’s welcome clarification means the reports can be published, which might mean that those responsible might finally be held to account.