Deputy Thomas Pringle has pressed Government to ensure the review of safeguarding in Donegal is published when completed asking them “to finally stand up to the HSE”.
Addressing the Dáil yesterday during Leaders’ Questions, Deputy Pringle said he fully supported Safeguarding Ireland’s call for establishment of an Independent National Adult Safeguarding Authority.
The deputy said the paper came as a timely reminder, following reports this weekend in the Sunday Independent, The Irish Times and the Medical Independent of further major concerns arising from the Brandon case in Donegal and the safeguarding issues it highlighted.
Deputy Pringle said: “The latest report, apparently delivered internally within the HSE, now contains allegations of rape going back to 1992.
“It is also revealed in correspondence between the HSE and Hiqa dated March 7th this year, that Hiqa’s deputy chief inspector of social services called for ‘the review of governance structures should not be limited to local level but should also include the overall national governance and oversight structures used to identify and respond to issues that may arise.”
He said reports also revealed ongoing risks related to reduced staffing in CHO1 in 2021, and said: “This was all happening while I was being told by the HSE that everything was fine.”
Deputy Pringle said: “I don’t believe that these allegations are new to the HSE. They were part of what the whistleblower told me in 2016, they were part of what I brought to the HSE at that time, they were in the available HSE files at Ard Gréine Court.
“I believe they were suppressed by management within the HSE from all levels, right to the very top, and only for the dogged determination of the whistleblower, these journalists, myself and thankfully Minister Rabbitte as well, all this would have been conveniently swept under the carpet.
“So Minister, I’m calling on your government and the senior minister to finally stand up to the HSE. Stop accepting mediocre management and the lack of transparency.
“Get the Brandon report and other linked reports published in full, so that we can confidently put in place the measures to ensure that this never happens again,” he said.
Deputy Pringle said: “The HSE management failed the residents of Ard Gréine Court, vulnerable adults that we as a society are asked to care for. HSE management massively failed Brandon, a highly vulnerable adult as well.
“But importantly, in the ensuing mismanagement of the case, the HSE has failed its frontline staff as well,” he said, saying that concealment of the truth, “leaves the staff on the ground abandoned, even though they were the ones who were highlighting the problems throughout”.
The Deputy said this isn’t a problem for Donegal or CHO1 alone – it’s a national problem.
And he added “Minister Rabbitte is doing a review of safeguarding in Donegal, which should be published when it’s completed, and I’m asking you, minister, to make sure that it is published.
“I know Minister Rabbitte intends to, but I think the whole of government needs to make that sure it is published when it’s completed because that’s vitally important for all our citizens.”
