Criticism of the abridged report on Madonna House

THE Irish Association of Care Workers (IACW) has strongly criticised the abridged report, published recently, on allegations of abuse at the Madonna House children's home in Dublin.

The association says the published report "serves least the interests of the children, the innocent staff members at Madonna House and care workers in general who continue to labour under the cloud of suspicion by association".

The IACW statement yesterday expressed fears that "more confusion now exists in relation to the issue of abuse in Madonna House than prior to the publication of the report".

The IACW accepted the Minister had no option "in the present legal context" but to publish the abridged version, however, it called for the immediate overhaul of laws which prevented the report being published in full,

The statement said the IACW "failed to understand" why if it was possible to state in the abridged report that the allegations "relate to a relatively small number of children", it was not also possible for a similar reference to be made about staff there.

The association was "appalled" that only two out of 41 care staff at Madonna House had professional qualifications, and "strongly recommends" that new staff training procedures are put in place.

The IACW expressed concern at the "very high turnover among junior staff" and "the lack of staff involvement, consultation and sharing in decision making", while it noted "inertia among older staff".

It regretted that the issue of registration for care workers "does not emerge from the investigating team's deliberations" and queried the time scale envisaged by the Minister for implementing the report's recommendations.

The association felt the report did not give "the necessary emphasis to a co ordinated set of procedures for all health boards that are similar, well defined, and speedily expedited where allegations of abuse occur".