Fergus Finlay: Judge our nation by its failure in the case of one defenceless person

Three and a half years after it started its work, the Farrelly Commission has published no findings of any kind, writes Fergus Finlay

The inquiry into the case of Grace, who was abused in a foster home while in the care of the State, is now reportedly asking for another extension to continue their work.

IT has been a week of heavy scandal. 

I can’t remember when we were so bombarded by national and international stories that reeked of political dishonesty and malpractice. Some of the things that have been revealed, and are still unfolding, are genuinely disgusting.

In its own way, however, there is no scandal as ultimately corrosive and damaging as our failure, as a State, to insist on the truth and full accountability in relation to Service User 1.

You don’t even know what I’m talking about, do you? Or rather, who I’m talking about. Because Service User 1 is a person. I’ll tell you more about her in a moment.

At an international level, the revelation that Donald Trump knew about the dangers and the infectiousness of the coronavirus from the very beginning — and that he know about them from the Chinese president — means that he deliberately chose to lie to his own people. He is revealed to be deliberately complicit in the deaths of tens of thousands of his own citizens.

And yet he’s still there. He’s still adored by thousands of people willing to follow him, it seems, to the gates of hell.

I’m not sure which gates Boris is heading to, but at least you get a sense that fewer people are willing to follow him there. Last year, the British government signed an agreement with the EU about how it was going to leave Europe — how Brexit was going to be implemented. As part of that agreement they made certain arrangements for the treatment of Northern Ireland.

These arrangements were necessary — and everyone involved understood that — because Northern Ireland is unique. After Britain leaves, Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK that has a land border with Europe. The only way to police such a border, of course, is to re-erect the border on the island of Ireland, with all that that implies.

So the protocol Boris agreed to was designed to prevent that. It involved allowing the EU jurisdiction to apply in relation to customs rules, for instance. That would be one of the things that would prevent the need for a border. And now, a year later, they’re introducing laws to override those provisions whenever they want to.

Governments don’t do that. At least, governments that want to be respected on the international stage don’t do it. But Boris now seems hell-bent on leaving the EU without a deal. Unless he stops playing this highly dangerous games in the pretty near future, the consequences will be disastrous for the UK, apart from the damage it will do elsewhere.

Perhaps you might think it unreasonable of me to insist that the way we have treated Service User 1, and the small number of people around her, is every bit as bad, worse even, than these big international scandals. 

The story of Service User 1 is a little scandal, involving only a few families. They aren’t families in the public eye. They’re not rich, or powerful, or influential — absolutely the opposite.

Perhaps that’s why the scandal affecting them has faded so completely from our vision. But it’s a story of justice denied and accountability withheld. It’s a story of how a process has become more important than the people at the centre of the process. It’s a story about how, to paraphrase Gandhi, we can judge our nation by its failure in the case of one utterly defenceless person.

I need to tell you more about the woman referred to as SU1. I wrote a column here at the start of 2016 about her. Back then, all I wanted was that she would be given a name, and not just a label. I suggested a name that was synonymous with the quality she had displayed most during many years of suffering. And so she became known as Grace.

Donald Trump knew about the dangers and the infectiousness of the coronavirus from the very beginning — and that he know about them from the Chinese president — means that he deliberately chose to lie to his own people. Picture: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Grace had been sexually abused in a particular foster home while in the care of the State. And she wasn’t alone — there are other women who have suffered similar, terrible abuse, in the same place. It became a matter of fundamental importance that there would be an investigation into how and why this abuse had been allowed to continue — in Grace’s case, the abuse had been allowed to go on for nearly 20 years.

Ultimately, a commission of investigation was established to find out what had happened, how the awful abuse had been allowed even after it had been discovered. It was given rambling terms of reference, and a one year time span. It was named after its “sole member” Marjorie Farrelly, a distinguished senior counsel.

Why is this a scandal?

Because three and a half years after it started its work, and after incurring costs in excess of €5m, it has published no findings of any kind. We are no wiser, no further on. And last week it was revealed, according to a story in the Irish Independent, they have asked the Health Minister Stephen Donnelly for another extension of time — and presumably more money for fees and expenses.

According to the paper, they’ve now issued eight interim reports, all of them saying precisely nothing at all. Not all of these reports have been published, but those that have are full of gobbledegook. Last November, for instance, they were clapping themselves on the back because “a considerable amount of work has been underway in connection with the analysis of evidence taken at hearings, consideration of any submissions received, and on the writing of draft chapters setting out the facts established …” 

That was nearly a year ago. And still nothing.

But behind the scenes, they have caused immense distress to some of the families of some of the women.

I have met some family members of some of the women who suffered abuse, and I’ve spoken to whistleblowers who fought for investigation. All of them believe that have been subjected to a process that is so adversarial that it is impossible to feel its only interest is the truth.

They believe that they have not even been believed about the existence of abuse, never mind its extent. Mothers who have fought to see justice for their daughters now believe there will be none.

This is against a background where the Farrelly Commission, three and a half years after starting its work, hasn’t been able to publish a single finding of fact. They haven’t been able to publish a single finding of fact even though they have seen all the files, interviewed everyone who is still alive, and know everything there is to know about who, and how, decisions were made.

I don’t know what’s going on, or why. But it would be utterly scandalous if the present government were to agree to allow the Farrelly Commission to continue to wander around in circles, getting no closer to publishing the truth behind the abuse of Grace and other girls and young women.

Justice demands that they be told now that they have a month, no more, to write a report. 

Giving them more time, on top of the nearly four years they’ve had, would be simply adding scandal to scandal.