Concern for 47 other children in home at centre of ‘Grace’ case

17/04/2025

Ireland’s Special Rapporteur on Child Protection has written to the Children’s Minister raising concerns for 47 other children who lived in the foster home at the centre of the ‘Grace’ case.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher told Extra.ie that she is alarmed that a Commission of Investigation examining the care provided to the disabled woman decided not to investigate the experiences of other children placed with the same family, who were the subject of numerous allegations of abuse.

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It comes as HSE whistleblower Iain Smith, who first raised concerns about Grace in 2007, said the Farrelly Commission report was a ‘waste of time’ and will act as a strong deterrent’ to whistleblowers.

Mr Smith said that the report, which took eight years and has cost € 13 million so far, sends the message: ‘The State can crush you, the State will try to crush you.’

The Commission found there were no allegations raised in the case of 40 of 47 individuals placed at the foster home of Family X.

On this basis, it said, there was no rationale to proceed with a planned second phase of the Commission investigating their care.

However, Ms Gallagher, whose role as Special Rapporteur on Child Protection involves investigating, reporting on, and advocating for children’s rights and protection from abuse and exploitation, cast doubt on the rationale for not proceeding to investigate the other cases.

She highlighted that the individuals placed in the care of Family X were born with severe disabilities.

‘Grace herself was non-verbal. So, unless a trusted professional breaks rank to raise concern for the welfare of these children, how else are these allegations to come out?’ she asked, pointing to the experience of Mr Smith, who said his efforts have ‘come to nothing’.

‘There is a question about what happens next for these families. After eight years, they have been left with no answers and no accountability,’ she added.

One Cabinet source subsequently said that there is ‘nothing more the Government can do’ for these families.

‘The Commission has made its decision – we can’t go against that,’ they said.

On Tuesday, Children’s Minister Norma Foley published the final report of the Farrelly Commission, set up in 2017 and led by senior counsel Marjorie Farrelly to examine the case of ‘Grace’, who has lived in State care all her life.

Grace was born in a mother and baby home in 1978 with a condition causing severe intellectual and physical disabilities, leaving her non-verbal.

In 2016, Grace was awarded € 6.3 million in damages from the HSE, which apologised for systemic failures in her care during her time in the foster home with Family X. The Commission was established in 2017 to examine the Grace case and that of the 47 other foster placements who had lived with the family – following allegations of abuse.

The Commission, which was beset with delays and will end up costing up to € 20 million, ultimately found Grace had been neglected and that there was a lack of oversight for her care.

However, it said it was not satisfied she had been subjected to physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. Its findings indicate an absence of information on the other placements, identifying issues for further investigation.

Asked about the other children on Tuesday, Minister Foley said that the Commission found there were no allegations made by these families. She said: ‘The Commission has concluded that of the 47, there were 40 where there were no allegations.

In relation to the seven, there were two specifically where there were very serious allegations around sexual abuse.

‘One of those, the individual had moved to England, and the family did not wish to pursue. The second one, the Commission is very clear, it is their view that there wasn’t a completed investigation; it should have been more thorough in relation to that.

There is no additional evidence available from the Commission in relation to any of the outstanding cases.’

She added: ‘There were no prosecutions pursued by An Garda Síochána. So, for those reasons, there is the recommendation around the Commission coming to a conclusion.’

However, Special Rapporteur Ms Gallagher expressed concerns over the processes deployed throughout the eight years of the Commission and the decision not to give the 47 families a warning of the report’s publication.

‘The family of a woman, known as ‘Sarah’ and placed in the same foster home as ‘Grace’, said that the publication of the report was a reopening of the wound,’ she said.

‘This raises serious questions about how issues of public interest are investigated, and whether the process here was fit for purpose.’

Meanwhile, Mr Smith, one of two whistleblowers who endeavoured to highlight neglect in the care of Grace, has warned public servants against speaking out on State failings.

He revealed how he had contacted then-health minister Simon Harris in 2019, asking him to shut down the Farrelly Commission, claiming the work being done was a ‘complete waste of time’.

Mr Smith was an experienced senior social worker in the HSE and first raised his concerns over the care of Grace in 2007.

He said he conducted a ‘deep read line-by-line’ of Grace’s file and allegations of child sexual abuse in the foster placement ‘going back quite a long way’.

Mr Smith gave 27 full days of evidence to the Farrelly Commission. ‘I wrote to Simon Harris in May 2019 saying the whole thing should be shut down because it was obvious to me then… that it was like I described to him, as a boondoggle, a complete waste of time, a project that is going absolutely nowhere,’ he told RTÉ’s News at One.

‘So when this report came out, it was no surprise at all to me that it followed on from the previous report in being fundamentally of no use whatsoever.’

Speaking to Extra.ie, HSE whistleblower Shane Corr, who previously exposed shocking financial behaviour within the health service and significant State abuses of vulnerable citizens on Extra.ie, said the report will be ‘of great concern’ to anyone considering or in the process of blowing the whistle.

‘The reason people don’t come forward about these matters sometimes is that they see how badly people who do are treated. This will damage anybody considering coming forward as a whistleblower,’ he said.

Decision to leave Grace with family came after Mr X wrote to Noonan

Referring to HSE chief Bernard Gloster’s recent comments asking why no one came forward on the scandal of the use of unapproved springs in children’s spinal surgeries at Temple Street Hospital, Mr Corr said: ‘It is bloody obvious because in the public and private sector, whistleblowers are seen as the enemies.’

Extra.ie has also learned that Minister Foley was provided with an update on Grace’s well-being. She is in her forties and ‘thriving’ in her current residence.