The final report of the Farrelly Commission, a long-running investigation into the circumstances surrounding serious allegations of abuse against a severely disabled young woman, known as “Grace”, was published on Tuesday.
The inquiry, chaired by senior counsel Marjorie Farrelly, was supposed to report two years after its establishment in 2017, but was delayed on multiple occasions.
Who is “Grace”?
‘Grace’ was born on 24th November 1978 to a teenage mother who had been admitted to a mother and baby home in Cork two months earlier.
Grace had a difficult birth and suffered significant trauma to her brain leaving her with a profound, lifelong intellectual and physical disability, and non-verbal.
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What happened to her?
She was placed first in a children’s home and then, aged 4, went to live with foster parents. The commission report says they were “very fond of her” and Grace attended school. In 1989 that family, however, was unable to continue caring for Grace.
Aged 11, Grace was placed in the “foster” home at the centre of the commission report, by the then South Eastern Health Board (SEHB) initially as a short-term placement.
The home was never assessed as to its suitability for care-placements and was never recognised as a foster-home or respite service. The foster ‘mother’ was 50 years old at the time and the ‘father’ was 67.
When did allegations of abuse first emerge?
Grace, who was one of 47 children placed with the family, stayed there for 20 years. This was despite credible allegations of abuse at the home, including in 1992 from the family of another girl who stayed in the home; and another from another family in 1996.
Concerns had also been raised by the Brothers of Charity, who stopped placing young people in the home in 1991.
‘Grace’ was also regarded as exhibiting signs of abuse.
In 1995, for example, her hips and arms were found to be bruised. While in day services, “she completely stripped herself for no apparent reason”. Her behaviour was described as “chaotic” and she took to “headbutting” trainees. There was no evidence the bruising was investigated.
In 1995 Grace, with reluctant agreement of the ‘foster parents’ Grace got a place in a day-service following a GP’s intervention.
In 1996, the health board decided to remove Grace from the home, on foot of concerns about possible abuse. In October 1996 that was overturned, though all further SEHB placements stopped.
Plans were drawn up in 1999 and in 2001 to gradually remove Grace from the home were not implemented. The report notes one account stating the ‘foster mother’ said in 2001 that she relied upon the allowances associated with the placement and had asked that Grace remain with her until 2006, when her grandson was to turn 18.
How did the commission of inquiry come about?
A number of whistleblowers sought to bring Grace’s situation and the health board’s handling of it to light.
The first took up her case in 2007. His view was that the “foster” home was inappropriate and Grace should be removed. He had serious concerns about sleeping arrangements in the home, the presence of other men, Grace’s personal and dental hygiene.
His recommendation that the HSE apply for her wardship was not acted on.
In the end he contacted Grace’s birth mother in 2009 and told her of his concerns. It was the first she heard of these. She demanded her daughter be removed immediately and she was, on July 17th, 2009.
A second, working in a service attended by Grace, brought her concerns to TDs and the Public Accounts Committee. It, under the chair of John McGuiness TD, expressed serious concerns about the case through 2015 and 2016.
The HSE commissioned two reviews into the foster home – one in 2012 by consultant Conal Devine and another in 2015 by the consultancy firm Resilience Ireland.
Amid increasing calls for a public inquiry senior counsel Conor Dignam was engaged to report on the adequacy of the HSE reviews. He said they were insufficiently independent of the HSE.
In 2017 senior counsel Marjorie Farrelly was commissioned to conduct an independent investigation into the case. After many protracted delays it was published on Tuesday.
Why has it taken so long for it to conclude?
An interim report on the scandal, which ran to some 800 pages, suggested the rationale the then South-Eastern Health Board made for keeping Grace in the foster home after 1996 was “weak and confused”.
Several extensions of time were requested and given to Ms Farrelly as the commission struggled to get information needed for her report especially from the HSE, the successor to the health board.
What happened today?
The final report of the Farrelly Commission’s long-running investigation was published on Tuesday.
Minister for Children Norma Foley brought a memo to Cabinet seeking approval for publication of the report.
It is unlikely to be followed by criminal prosecutions as the Director of Public Prosecutions has previously decided there should be no criminal charges brought, despite a recommendation from the gardaí that those involved in her abuse should face justice.
Grace, now aged 46, is living in the southeast in a residential setting. Her former ‘foster parents’ are both deceased died.
The ‘mother’, who spoke to The Irish Times in 2016 and denied all allegations, died in 2024.
