Foster home abuse allegations inquiry ‘for next Government’

The formal establishment of a commission of investigation into allegations of abuse at a foster home in the southeast will be a matter for the next government, once preparatory work by a senior counsel is complete.

Kathleen Lynch, the Minister of State at the Department of Health, said the work being carried out by Conor Dignam SC will inform the terms of reference for the future inquiry.

Ms Lynch said Mr Dignam’s work will be complete by April, by which time a new government is expected to be in place. Mr Dignam was appointed on December 7th to undertake a review of two other reports into the case which have already been completed.

“We concluded, having consulted with both the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach, that the only way forward is to commission a statutory commission of investigation,” Ms Lynch said .

Cabinet has to give approval for a statutory commission of investigation, which also has to be established by a vote in the Dáil and Seanad.

“We are making a formal request for it to happen,” Ms Lynch said. “The vote will more than likely be in the next government’s remit.

“The Conor Dignam report will now conclude by the end of April. We believe that [what comes] out of that will give us the areas that the commission will need to take a further look at.”

Ms Lynch added that she and Minister for Health Mr Varadkar have been told by the Attorney General's office that they can have two relevant reports which they had been previously denied access to.

“We need to know exactly what we want the commission of investigation to do and that is why Conor Dignam is doing his work. We want this to be very focused, we want this to be very clear.

Important

The HSE said such a commission would help the former residents and families to get information.

“This is particularly important as the HSE has not been in a position to publish its two completed reports . . . due to an ongoing An Garda investigation,” it said.

“A statutory commission such as this would also serve to provide absolute clarity to many of the conflicting accounts concerning certain matters that have been reported by different media outlets over the past number of months.”