Tag Archives: Tusla

Tusla CEO Fred McBride

This afternoon.

At a meeting of the Oireachtas committee on Children and Youth Affairs.

Tusla’s Chief Executive Officer Fred McBride is answering questions in respect of a report published by HIQA yesterday.

HIQA’s report looked at the management of allegations of child sexual abuse against adults by Tusla – after it emerged that Tusla had sent a notification containing a wholly false allegation of rape against Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe to An Garda Síochána in May 2014.

This false rape allegation was brought to the attention of the then Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan in the same month.

Sgt McCabe wasn’t made aware of this false allegation until January 2016 when Tusla wrote to him and told he was being investigated for this.

Between May 2015 and December 2015, Sgt McCabe was involved in the O’Higgins Commission of Investigation which examined his complaints about poor policing in Cavan/Monaghan and throughout this time, he never knew this false allegation had been documented by Tusla and sent to the gardaí.

It wasn’t until June 2016 that Tusla wrote to Sgt McCabe and told him a mistake had been made.

These matters are currently being examined by Supreme Court judge Peter Charleton at the Disclosures Tribunal.

The HIQA report identified 65 cases where the group failed to protect children at “potential risk” of abuse.

The meeting can be watched here.

The report can be read in full here

Related: Tusla identifies failures in 65 cases of kids at risk of abuse (Irish Examiner)

A protest outside Leinster House last January; HiQA’s Mary Dunnion, Phelim Quinn and Paul Morgan this afternoon; Minister for Children Katherine Zappone; Chief Executive, Tusla, Fred McBride

The [HIQA] team found that although 164 of the [Tusla] case files it reviewed were deemed to have been closed, it could not establish that they were.

It also found cases that were inappropriately closed as there were outstanding child protection concerns.

The report states that some children are being left at “potential risk” because of failures at operational level in Tusla to accurately record decisions and actions and to manage under-performance among its personnel.

from a gap between Tusla’s national policy and what is actually happening on the ground regarding the screening of allegations, the development and management of safety plans and Tusla’s communications with people against whom allegations have been made.

…inconsistencies in safety planning practice by Tusla meant that while some children were adequately safeguarded, others at potential risk were not.

It says that “some people were not told that an allegation of abuse had been made against them and others were given only limited information.”

Review finds Tusla must address serious shortcomings (RTÉ)

Rollingnews

Ellen Coyne, in The Times Ireland edition, reports:

A government agency [Tusla] has been accused of “punishing” a sexual violence victims’ group after Rape Crisis Network Ireland lost funding worth €300,000 because it questioned how the state was using abuse victims’ personal data.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that Tusla, the child and family agency, said it could not work with the network on a school sexual violence education programme because there was a “conflict of interest”.

It blamed a legal letter that the network had sent, which claimed Tusla was putting victims at risk by collecting and in some cases publishing data it had collected from crisis centres.

…[Independent Senator Lynn] Ruane said that she was extremely concerned by Tusla’s decision to refuse to work with the network on the project and suggested that the charity had been “punished for highlighting a problem”.

Rape charity ‘punished’ after challenging Tusla over data (Ellen Coyne, The Times Ireland edition)

From the Office of the Information Commissioner’s annual report for 2016

Today.

Information Commissioner Peter Tyndall released the Office of the Information Commissioner’s annual report for 2016 – a year which saw requests to An Garda Síochána rise from 183 in 2015 to 459 in 2016, representing a 150 per cent increase.

In the report, Mr Tyndall also says:

I am disappointed to report that my office has noted ongoing and, in some cases, increasing examples of some public bodies failing to meet the statutory requirements of the FOI Act.

For example, later in my report I comment on the number of occasions that public bodies have not responded to FOI requests within statutory timeframes and on the fact that my office noted an all-time high of instances where the request was deemed to have been refused by the public body in the absence of a timely decision. I also report on several instances where my office had to issue statutory notices to ensure compliance with the Act.

Specifically.

In regards to the OIC – under Section 45 of the Freedom of Information Act – being able to order a public body to provide it with any information it believes to be relevant for a review.

It issued two such Section 45 notices to TUSLA, the Child and Family Agency.

In relation to this…

Mr Tyndall writes:

TUSLA was requested to provide copies of the subject records for a review, on 14 April 2016. Despite a further telephone reminder the records were not forwarded to my Office. On 4 May 2016, we issued a section 45 notice to the Chief Executive of TUSLA and the records in question were delivered almost three weeks later.

And in relation to the second case, Mr Tyndall writes…

My office wrote to TUSLA on 13 June 2016 and requested copies of the relevant subject records within ten working days. On 27 June an incomplete set of records was received.

On 15 July, my Office issued a section 45 notice to the Chief Executive, again requesting the relevant records. While TUSLA delivered a further set of records on 29 July, they were not the ones requested. As a result, on 8 August, we took the unusual step of issuing a second section 45 notice to the Chief Executive. We received the correct records on 11 August, two months after the original request.

Read the report in full here

From last night’s RTÉ Investigates programme Chaos In Care

Last night.

On RTÉ One.

Aoife Hegarty, of RTÉ Investigates, presented a report entitled Chaos In Care.

It examined how certain vulnerable children, in the care of the State, have been harrowingly failed by the State.

It also looked at cases from the report published yesterday by the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Dr Geoffrey Shannon which looked at the use of Section 12 of the Child Care Act 1991 by An Garda Siochana.

Section 12 of the act allows gardai to remove a child if they believe there is a serious risk to the child’s health or welfare.

In one particular case, Ms Hegarty reported:

In 2011 a young boy living in voluntary foster care – who we’ve named ‘Mark’ – told his birth mother [‘Susan’] he had been inappropriately touched by another, male foster child twice his age who was also living with the same foster family.

‘Susan’ – which is not her real name – discovered ‘Mark’ had made a similar allegation to his foster parent 5 weeks earlier but it had not been reported to the HSE.

‘Susan’ asked to have ‘Mark’ moved from the foster placement while an investigation took place – this did not happen. 

Instead a safety plan was put in place by the HSE. – this consisted of little more than an instruction to the foster parents that the two boys – who had been sharing a bedroom – “should have separate bedrooms and that the [foster] carers should supervise” them closely.

Two months later, the HSE referred ‘Mark’ for assessment by child sexual abuse experts.

The experts concluded that ‘Mark’ gave “a credible account of experiencing inappropriate sexual behaviour by his foster sibling”.

But while ‘Mark’ was assessed, it appears from case notes that his foster sibling was not.

Over the following months ‘Mark’ displayed sexualised behaviour and ‘Susan’ repeatedly reported this to the social work department.

[‘Susan’ said: “He was using his teddy bear to, pushing it up against his genitals, it was like he was imitating what had been done to him. Yeah he was saying ‘touch me you cunt’, he tried to kiss his older brother, he put his hand on his inner thigh and tried to kiss him in an adult way.”]

‘Susan’ believed her concerns were not being taken seriously by social workers so she reported the matter to the Gardaí asking them to investigate. 

In fact cases notes seen by RTÉ Investigates show that An Garda Síochána were “…quite irate…” at the management of Mark’s case by the HSE social work department – stating that the Gardaí…. “Would have a different view of child sexual abuse…” The HSE decided to leave ‘Mark’ in the foster home despite his birth mother’s concerns.

Almost 3 years later… ‘Mark’ made a second allegation – this time to a TUSLA staff member that he was being punched by the same older foster child AND by an adult son of the foster family.

The foster parents were again advised by the social work department to “increase supervision” of the boys and ‘Susan’ was informed about the allegation.

In late 2015 TUSLA applied to the courts for a full care order for ‘Mark’. 

As part of the court process ‘Susan’ was required to produce two psychiatric assessment reports carried out on the state of her mental health. ‘Susan’ agreed.

But what ‘Susan’ didn’t understand was that she would be personally billed by her doctor for the reports – €500 for the first report and €300 for the second one

On one occasion she was forced to take out a loan from her credit union to cover the cost.

In an initial statement to RTÉ, TUSLA said it “…does not require individuals to undertake psychiatric assessments at their own expense…”

However when we went back and asked TUSLA to explain why ‘Susan’ ended up paying  her doctors bill, a spokesperson said they “…cannot comment on individual cases…”

Last year the court ruled that ‘Mark’ will stay in care until the age of 18.

‘Mark’ continues to live with the same foster family to the present day – along with the older child alleged to have previously abused him.

Watch Chaos In Care in full here

This morning.

It’s being reported that a report by the Government’s Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Dr Geoffrey Shannon (above) on Ireland’s child protection system – looking at 5,400 cases, from 2008 to 2015, where gardaí removed children from their parents under Section 12 of the Child Care Act – is to be published.

It will be published by Assistant Garda Commissioner John O’Driscoll.

Section 12 of the act allows gardai to remove a child if they believe there is a serious risk to the child’s health or welfare.

It’s being reported that both Tusla and the gardaí are criticised in the report.

Further to this.

Aoife Hegarty, of RTÉ Investigates, spoke to Audrey Carville on Morning Ireland earlier, ahead of her own report on the matter this evening.

Ms Hegarty said, in addition to a report on Mr Shannon’s examination, she’ll be looking at “disturbing revelations” concerning a boy in the south east of Ireland.

Ms Hegarty said:

“We’ve been following a number of child protection cases. They include a case that’s currently before the courts in which our child protection services again come under the spotlight. In terms of the actions that the Child Family Agency Tusla has, or indeed hasn’t, taken in terms of vulnerable children.

We also examine another case which we came across again a child was left in a foster placement, despite allegations of sexual abuse and we’ll show various documentation from that case which we’ve seen and lastly, we’ll feature new revelations on the quality of care provided by child protection services in the south east.

“I suppose by now we’re all well familiar with the very sad story of Grace, that young woman with profound intellectual disabilities who was left in a foster home in the south east for 20 years, despite serious allegations, a woman who was recently awarded over €6million in the High Court.

But tonight, we reveal yet more disturbing revelations from the Waterford area. This time in relation to the care provided to a young boy. In all, the programme raises very serious questions for our child protection authorities and whether, in all cases, they’re functioning adequately.

RTÉ Investigates is on RTÉ One at 10.35pm this evening.

Call for cultural change in child protection system (RTE)

Chief Executive Officer of Tusla Fred McBride

You may recall how a false allegation of child abuse against Sgt Maurice McCabe was circulated by Tusla.

Further to this…

[Chief Executive Officer of Tusla] Mr [Fred] McBride later issued a personal apology to Sergeant [Maurice] McCabe over the mistake, but now says he has never experienced such “unprecedented” levels of scrutiny in over three decades in social work and that it is difficult for Tusla employees not to perceive this as “hostility”.

Adding that he has “no problem” with scrutiny, Mr McBride said so much scrutiny at the same time is acting as a distraction and that there had been some hysterical reaction to Tusla’s involvement in the controversy.

He was speaking at the launch of Tusla’s Child Protection and Welfare Strategy 2017-2022 which provides a roadmap to streamlining services offered by the agency and ensuring consistency of service provision throughout the country.

Previously: A ‘Failure To Delete’ Error

Charleton Schedule

Tusla inquiries are a ‘distraction’ says chief executive (Ciaran D’Arcy, The Irish Times)

mauriceScreen Shot 2017-03-01 at 12.01.13

From top: Maurice McCabe; Katie Hannon and David McCullagh on Prime Time last night

Last night.

On RTÉ’s Prime Time.

Prime Time‘s political correspondent Katie Hannon gave a further update on the allegations of a smear campaign against Sgt Maurice McCabe which are now being investigated by the Disclosures Tribunal, headed by Mr Justice Peter Charleton, of the Supreme Court.

Readers will recall how, in her original Prime Time report on the matter, on February 9, 2017, Ms Hannon explained the sequence of events that led to Sgt McCabe becoming the subject of a false allegation of child abuse in a Tusla file, due to a “clerical error”.

In her February 9 report, Ms Hannon reported that an email from May 2014 indicated the counsellor – after realising she made the serious error in a referral letter about Sgt McCabe to Tusla –

believed that the local superintendent, the superintendent in the relevant district, had been asked to meet the Garda Commissioner in relation to this case. And there was some anxiety that this superintendent hadn’t been brought up to date about the error in the file and it had to be sent to him immediately”

The Garda press office told Prime Time that Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan had no meeting with the superintendent in question in May, 2014 and did not request such a meeting.

Further to this, and having seen this email, Francesca Comyn, of The Sunday Business Post reported, on February 12, that the email from the counsellor to Tusla stated:

I had another call in relation to the retrospective report which as you are aware contains a clerical error. I was informed that the superintendent in the jurisdiction referred to in the report was not yet aware of the clerical error and has been asked to meet with the Garda Commissioner in relation to the case.”

Further to this…

From last night’s (2 mins and 25 second) report from Katie Hannon on Prime Time

David McCullagh: “The Disclosures Tribunal into allegations there was a smear campaign against Sgt Maurice McCabe is under way but it will be some time before public hearings commence. Before that, our political correspondent Katie Hannon joins us to clear up one key issue in relation to the revelation of a Tusla file containing false allegations of a serious sexual assault. Katie, what’s tonight’s story all about?”

Katie Hannon: “There’s two terms of reference, within the 16 terms of reference that Peter Charleton is going to be looking at, at this tribunal. One is to inquire whether this Tusla file was  knowingly used by senior members of An Garda Siochana to  discredit Sgt McCabe and another of the terms asks what the former and current Garda Commissioners [Martin Callinan and Noirin O’Sullivan] knew about these matters.”

“So, go back to that Tusla file. Questions have already been raised. I discussed it in this studio about an email that was in that file released to the McCabes which seemed to indicate that the Garda Commissioner had asked for a meeting way back in May 2014 – in relation to what was in that file. Now, we put this to the Garda Commissioner at the time and  she told us she had not requested that meeting, that meeting did not happen.”

McCullagh: “So, do we know what that email actually referred to?”

Hannon: “So, we now can say what that meeting, what that email referred to. I’ve now learned that the “commissioner” referred to in that email was actually the assistant commissioner for the northern region at the time, the former commissioner Kieran Kenny. According to an informed source, assistant commissioner Kenny met with the superintendent, the relevant superintendent that month, in May 2014 and, crucially, he sent a full report of this meeting to Garda Headquarters.

So, basically, the upshot of this is that we now know that, two and a half years ago, Garda Headquarters were made aware that there was this allegation of child rape recorded by Tusla against Sgt Maurice McCabe and also that it had been subsequently withdrawn and described as a clerical error.”

And the questions that will be raised, presumably at the tribunal will be: what did they do on foot of that? We know, for a fact, that they did not contact Maurice McCabe. In fact, I understand that Sgt McCabe has yet to have any contact from Garda Headquarters even since this whole story broke a short time ago. We asked the Garda Press Office about this, they said they were precluded from commenting because the tribunal is now up and running. We asked the Justice Minister [Frances Fitzgerald] if she’d been briefed about it and, again, she declined to comment, saying it would be inappropriate because the tribunal has now commenced.”

Meanwhile…

In addition to reports of contact being made between the gardai and the counsellor after the discovery of the error, in May 2014, it has also been reported that there was at least an attempt by a Tusla social worker to contact a garda just after the false allegation/error was initially communicated by the counsellor to Tusla in August 2013.

Following an allegation made against Sgt McCabe in 2006, a file was sent to  the DPP – with the recommendation that there was no grounds for a prosecution – and that the DPP directed that no prosecution should be taken, with the observation that it was doubtful the allegations should constitute a crime at all.

In her original report on the matter, on February 9, Ms Hannon reported that, within days of the counsellor notifying Tusla of the false allegation – presumably without realising her referral contained a mistake/false allegation – a Tusla social worker contacted the garda who investigated the original 2006 complaint made against Sgt McCabe, to request a meeting.

However, it’s not known if that meeting took place.

Watch back in full here

Previously: Pasted In Error

700 Monsignor-Shine-Oliver-March-19th-009

From top: Bill Kenneally; the late Monsignor John Shine

You may recall how the victims of paedophile Bill Kenneally – an accountant from a well-known Fianna Fáil family and basketball coach in Waterford – want a Commission of Investigation.

They believe senior gardai, members of Fianna Fáil, members of the Catholic Church and staff at the South Eastern Health Board failed to act when told about the abuse.

Kenneally was convicted and sentenced to 14 years last February, for abusing 10 boys in the 1980s, after victim Jason Clancy came forward in 2012.

However, certain Gardaí knew about the abuse as far back as 1985.

Further to this…

Yesterday, Damien Tiernan, on RTÉ’s This Week, reported that after gardaí raided Kenneally’s house in December 2012, Kenneally made some admissions to gardaí and gardaí notified the HSE.

However, Basketball Ireland, and a local Waterford basketball club, say they were never contacted or made aware of the situation by the HSE or officials attached to Tusla.

Instead, it was only when one of Kenneally’s victims went to the media in April 2013, that the basketball club became aware of the matter. The club subsequently told Kenneally to leave the club’s committee and he resigned.

Kenneally’s victims now want this matter to be part of the Commission of Inquiry that they’re seeking from the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald.

Kenneally abuse victims critical of Tusla for not explaining HSE’s inaction (RTE)

Meanwhile…

Readers will also recall how Kenneally’s uncle was the late Fianna Fáil TD Billy Kenneally, who died in 2009 and who was succeeded by his son Brendan Kenneally.

Brendan Kenneally was told about the abuse by a Waterford woman in 2002 but he didn’t tell gardai. Instead, he spoke to another uncle and local priest – and former chairman of the board of management at Holy Cross National School in Tramore, Co Waterford – Monsignor John Shine – and arranged counselling for Bill Kenneally.

Monsignor Shine died on Saturday, February 18.

Further to this…

The death of Monsignor Shine has prompted Kenneally’s victims to call for the establishment of an inquiry into the matter “before anyone else with crucial information dies”.

Saoirse McGarrigle writes:

[Victim] Jason Clancy says that the Tramore priest was a “central figure” in the cover-up.

It’s alleged he was told about the abuse, but did not report it to the gardai. Instead he contacted a local TD looking for help to suppress victims’ claims.

A lot of the key witnesses are elderly, do we need to wait until more die before the minister decides it’s time to get to the bottom of this?” said Mr Clancy.

Mr Clancy and other victims – Colin Power, Paul Walsh, Barry Murphy and Kevin Keating – are pushing for a commission of investigation into who knew about the abuse and allowed it continue.

The men, who are now in their 40s, were abused when they were teenagers in the 1980s.

Their solicitor Darragh Mackin has written to Frances Fitzgerald saying “the passing of Monsignor Shine, who would have undoubtedly been a key witness to any inquiry, has resulted in the loss of evidence to the investigation”.

Superintendent Sean Cashman admitted Bill Kenneally told him he was blind-folding, handcuffing and sexually abusing teenage boys in 1987, but he did not charge the basketball coach because he promised to stop.

Last month Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald wrote to the men saying: “While I am minded towards holding some form of investigation” she was not going to launch one yet, because a fresh criminal investigation is now underway after three other men came forward making reports of abuse at the end of 2016.

There is probably another 150 men walking around Waterford that have been abused by this monster, this could go on for years,” said Mr Clancy.

He added: “It is not a valid excuse to stop her investigating the cover-up and it certainly was not an excuse given to us when we met her in November…she said that new victims coming forward wasn’t something that would stop a commission of investigation.”

Saoirse McGarrigle is a reporter at the Irish Mirror.

Previously: ‘We Need To Know Who Knew What’

Screen Shot 2017-02-10 at 18.05.20

Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly in the Dáil yesterday

Earlier today.

Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly spoke with Michael Reade on Louth-based LMFM.

In the course of the interview, Ms Daly said the following:

“I suppose, it’s worth saying, there have been other dealings with Tusla in relation to other Garda whistleblowers as well, that we know of…”

Thud.

UPDATE: Second garda whistleblower says senior officer behind another Tusla referral (Katie Hannon, RTE)

Meanwhile…

Separately…

Readers may recall how the terms of reference of Justice Peter Charleton’s commission of investigation into allegations of a smear campaign against Sgt Maurice McCabe were published earlier this week.

And that one of the terms of reference calls for the investigation to find out if “Commissioner [Noirin] O’Sullivan, using briefing material prepared in Garda headquarters, planned and orchestrated broadcasts on RTE on the 9th of May, 2016, purporting to be a leaked account of the unpublished O’Higgins Commission Report, in which Sgt McCabe was branded a liar and irresponsible”.

This was in reference to an interview between RTE journalist Fran McNulty and RTE’s Crime Correspondent Paul Reynolds on Morning Ireland on the morning of Monday, May 9, 2016 – about the then as yet unpublished O’Higgins report.

The O’Higgins report wasn’t published until Tuesday, May 11, 2016.

Mr Reade also asked Ms Daly about what she said in the Dáil yesterday, concerning the inclusion of this report in the terms of reference.

Ms Daly told the Dáil yesterday:

I welcome some of the other terms of reference. I am delighted to see RTE included, because I actually made a complaint about that broadcast. RTE wrote back to me and gave out about the personal nature of my complaints and their hostile tone. It claimed they were without foundation and would be defamatory if I repeated them to a third party.

During the LMFM interview…

Michael Reade: “You told the Dáil yesterday that you made a complaint about the broadcast to RTE. RTE wrote back to you and gave out about the personal nature of your complaints and the hostile tone and I know that because I saw you saying that on RTE News last night. But that’s where the report stopped. And what I didn’t see on the news was what you went on to say, which was that, RTE claimed, that what you were saying was without foundation and would be defamatory if you repeated it to a third party. Was RTE threatening to sue you?

Clare Daly: “No, I don’t think so. I think they were objecting strongly or the person from RTE who wrote it, like, was saying that, you know, if I was to repeat what I said in the complaint to a third party, it might be construed as defamatory which was just utterly ridiculous, as far as I was concerned. It was in the context of the news report and coverage and the complaint had been about the coverage by Paul Reynolds and, basically, the person who wrote back from RTE was making that remark to me, in the context of defending Paul Reynolds, telling me what a wonderful journalist he was and how he knew him well and…”

Reade: “But to say it’s defamatory,..”

Daly: “Yeah, I know.”

Reade: “…is that not suggesting you were making libellous statements which means they could choose to sue you?”

Daly: “Yeah, I mean, look it, I thought the choice of words was incredible and, as I was saying in the Dail, I was really glad that Justice O’Neill had included that coverage because a lot of people took exception to it, it was incredibly one-sided and it gave a very inaccurate account of what was actually in the O’Higgins’ report which is why we put in the complaint at the time…”

Listen back to the interview on LMFM in full here

Thanks Eamonn