A healthcare worker has brought High Court proceedings challenging the Health Service Executive’s (HSE’s) decision to disclose to the Garda vetting bureau a complaint of sexual assault made against her without her knowledge.
The woman says she worked in healthcare for more than 30 years and never had a complaint of causing any harm against any care home resident.
She is seeking an order quashing the HSE’s decision to furnish gardaí with a complaint report and another quashing the Garda vetting bureau’s acceptance of it.
She says she does not know who made the allegation against her or what she is alleged to have done.
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“I have no information with which to defend myself nor have I an ability to defend my good name and reputation in the healthcare sector,” she says in an affidavit to the court.
The woman worked with vulnerable adults as a support worker and social care worker until June 2022 but remained within the same health group. She left the group in April 2024 when she went for interviews with three other healthcare agencies.
After a “very positive interview” with one of the agencies, references were requested and Garda clearance was sought.
However, before the woman could submit her references, the HSE wrote to her saying the health group had provided it with information that, she said, “shockingly, set out information related to ‘an alleged sexual assault of a resident’”.
“These allegations hit me very hard. I was so upset I required medical assistance. It was over a month before I could gather myself sufficiently to go to my solicitor to tell him what had happened,” she said.
“In circumstances where the report, on its face, confirms that no investigation had occurred, the HSE had no power, authority or lawful entitlement to furnish the said report to the gardaí,” she submits.
The HSE did so “contrary to the rule of law”, while vetting gardaí, in accepting same, acted “wrongfully and unlawfully”, she says.
The vetting bureau wrote to the woman’s solicitor last month saying that it was not within its remit to withdraw “a notification of specified information” and that if any information was found to be incorrect, the HSE should inform the bureau.
The applicant submits that she is entitled to fair procedure and that workers are entitled to take part in any investigation or hearing to defend untrue or baseless complaints.
While only the woman was represented in court, Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty granted permission for her to bring her case. The judge adjourned the matter to January.
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