'Grace' case whistleblower says submissions were ignored | Breaking News & Latest Ireland Updates

'Grace' case whistleblower says submissions were ignored — One of the whistleblowers involved in bringing the 'Grace' case to light, has said he too made submissions to the Farrelly Commission, which were not ...

One of the whistleblowers involved in bringing the 'Grace' case to light, has said he too made submissions to the Farrelly Commission, which were not included in the final report.

'Grace' is the pseudonym of a woman, now in her 40s, who has been in the care of the State all her life.

She has profound intellectual disabilities and is non-verbal.

Iain Smith, a former HSE social worker, appeared as a witness before the Farrelly Commission but also separately gave a lengthy written submission to the inquiry, which he says was not "acknowledged or included in any way in the report", or "referred to during the workings of the commission".

It comes a day after the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court issued a statement, claiming that extensive submissions made to the commission by lawyers representing Grace were not included or referred to in any way in its final report.

Mr Smith said: "These were all great opportunities for Farrelly to find out more about Grace and indeed about the other children who were in that foster placement."

He said he was not surprised at the omission.

"I'm not surprised that they weren't included or referred to in the report. When you make a submission to the Health Board at the HSE or in this case the Farrelly Commission, and you don't get any response, that leaves you in a dilemma or a binary position where you either ignore it, which makes you complicit with the whole situation, or you have to take an unprecedented step within your own professional boundaries and say this isn't good enough.

"I'm not going to go along with this, which is a very uncomfortable position for the General Solicitor to have been in. I have a lot of sympathy for her, but she's made the right decision".

Read more:'Grace' report: More questions after unprecedented statement

Mr Smith called on the commission chair, Marjorie Farrelly, to explain the decision.

He also questioned the future of commissions of inquiry.

"I think there are fundamental questions here about the nature of these commissions of investigation and how can we have more commissions of investigation when they seem to be failing so seriously, we need to know their workings and their logic and rationale".

The Farrelly Commission found there was a fundamental failure on the part of the South Eastern Health Board and HSE in their duty of care to 'Grace'.

It found evidence of serious neglect and financial mismanagement, but did not find any evidence of sexual or emotional abuse.

A planned second phase of the investigation involving the placement of 47 other children at the same foster home is not now going ahead.