Daniel McConnell: Action must follow speeches in delivering justice for 'Grace'

'Officials told blatant lies,' Dáil told

Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness said that those who knew what was happening to intellectually disabled woman 'Grace' should be "chased down" and held accountable Picture: Oireachtas TV/PA Wire

They knew and did nothing about it.

Worse still, rather than own up and seek to make amends, they went after the whistleblower and took away her job.

Described as the “greatest scandal of our times”, the case of Grace — the intellectually disabled child who was abused and neglected for 20 years — took centre stage in Dáil Éireann today.

Focusing on two interim reports by the Commission of Investigation into the scandal of a foster home in the Southeast in which 47 young, vulnerable, disabled people stayed, TDs gathered to air their views.

The debate began inauspiciously with a “scant” speech from Disabilities Minister Anne Rabbitte.

Quoting a legal-ese script, she said she was precluded from commenting in detail. 

She later accepted her speech was inadequate.

The opposition however, was not having it.

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall was the first to take issue with the minister. 

Galway Independent TD Catherine Connolly criticised Ms Rabbitte.

But it was the speech of Kilkenny TD John McGuinness which raised the temperature of proceedings significantly.

Mr McGuinness chaired the Public Accounts Committee which first exposed the Grace scandal in 2015 and 2016.

Someone sexually abused Grace and others in that house. Nobody thought fit to report the bruises on her thighs, legs, and breasts, that were all inflicted by the hands of people, and not, as it was said, by a fall on the bus, he said.

In a powerhouse speech of 12 minutes duration, Mr McGuinness said HSE officials “lied” to his committee about what happened to Grace.

“Officials told blatant lies,” Mr McGuinness said under absolute privilege in the Dáil. 

They should be called back before the Oireachtas and “put through the wringer,” he said saying it made him "sick to the pit of my stomach".

Worse still, the Dáil also heard that the HSE using taxpayers' money targeted a whistleblower who raised Grace’s case, who subsequently lost her job for speaking out.

There was considerable criticism that the commission, which has so far taken €7m and four-and-a-half years and is yet to conclude its work, has until next July to produce a final report.

But Ms Rabbitte, speaking frankly, said she has little confidence as the line minister that the deadline will be met. 

She also revealed that there are two new investigations into serious failures into disability care in the Southeast, the same area where Grace stayed.

Again and again, politicians, from Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane, Kathleen Funchion, and Mark Ward to Ms Connolly and the Green’s Marc Ó Caithasaigh called for people who knew what happened and did nothing to be held to account.

Not in an Irish way of being held to account — like a promotion or retirement on enhanced terms 

— but actual accountability.

“There are individuals in the HSE that know what went on. They are criminals. They should be brought to court and prosecuted,” Mr McGuinness told the Dáil.

So strong were the contributions from Mr McGuinness, Ms Connolly, and Mr Ó Caithasaigh, Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghail intervened and said further debates on Grace and the other 46 victims are not only warranted but required.

Good speeches are one thing, but action in terms of delivering justice for Grace is long overdue.