A review into “falsified” Garda background checks supplied by a company running emergency housing for vulnerable children in State care identified an employee whose record should have prevented them from working with young people.
An investigation by The Irish Times previously revealed the company, Good People Homecare, supplied forged paperwork to Tusla, the child and family agency, falsely clearing several employees to work with vulnerable children in the care system.
Newly released internal documents show subsequent background checks of all care staff flagged a “serious disclosure” about one employee, deemed concerning enough to prohibit the individual from further work with young people.
Separate documents show the Health Service Executive tried to conceal the fact that it was about to award Good People a contract to supply agency staff across the health service, a decision it only paused this August when questioned about work the company carried out for the HSE.
RM Block
Good People was paid several million euros by Tusla to staff unregulated emergency accommodation for children taken into State care, arrangements the State agency has had to increasingly rely upon due to a lack of space in group care homes and foster care.
Tusla cut ties with the company after discovering the vetting of some care workers had been falsified.
The Co Meath company is run by Gerard Chimbganda, a businessman and evangelical pastor originally from Zimbabwe.
An employee of the firm, a young relative of Mr Chimbganda, was convicted in May of forgery and falsifying Garda vetting documentation of staff.
A review prompted by concerns inside Tusla flagged “discrepancies” in Garda vetting paperwork supplied for at least 17 employees of Good People.
In an internal report, dated November 2023, Good People accepted “irregularities” in some of its employees’ vetting records posed “a serious risk to the organisation’s reputation and credibility in safeguarding the young people in our care”.
Correspondence shows Tusla warned the HSE as far back as January 2024 that Mr Chimbganda’s company had “provided falsified Garda vetting documentation” for several of its care workers.
At the time, Good People was sourcing temporary staff to work in HSE nursing homes in South Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow, as well as providing home care services in Co Meath.
Checks carried out after Tusla raised the alarm identified that several Good People staff were working in nursing homes without proper Garda vetting, internal HSE correspondence shows. The revelation led the HSE’s Dublin Midlands region to phase out the company.
However, HSE staff in Co Meath continue to rely on the company to provide home care services to patients in the community.
A HSE spokeswoman said local officials were satisfied after further work, the company complied with vetting and governance standards.
Documents held by the HSE and Tusla were released following Freedom of Information Act requests.
Internal correspondence shows the HSE was about to award Good People a national contract to supply agency staff across the health service this August, a decision that was paused following press queries from The Irish Times about the company’s past vetting failures.
HSE officials privately discussed how the fact Good People had been in line for a State contract was “not necessarily for release to the media” when responding to initial questions, emails show.
A HSE spokeswoman said the contract was suspended, pending an investigation into the circumstances of a former employee’s conviction for forgery and falsifying vetting paperwork.
