AN AUDIT of the policies and procedures in place to respond to allegations of sexual abuse in all services for people with intellectual disability across the State is about to be undertaken on behalf of the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The HSE told the Oireachtas Health Committee yesterday it was about to tender for an expert to carry out the audit, which will also examine how allegations of abuse are being handled by service providers.
Terms of reference for the audit, which is likely to look at how complaints were handled over a 12-month period in both residential and day-care services, are now being finalised.
Ger Reaney, a HSE local health manager, outlined the plan during an examination by the Oireachtas committee of the report of an inquiry published last year in relation to abuses perpetrated on persons with disabilities at Brothers of Charity Services in Galway over a 33-year period, from 1965 to 1998.
The inquiry took eight years.
Fine Gael's Alan Shatter asked Mr Reaney why it was that the inquiry took so long, and why most of those who were on the original inquiry team set up by the former Western Health Board (WHB) had left it within two years.
Mr Reaney said he did not know why all those appointed to the original inquiry team, other than its chairperson, left the inquiry so quickly.
He added that an independent inquiry set up late last year by Minister of State Jimmy Devins into the delay in completing the inquiry was ongoing. John Hynes, former secretary general at the Department of Social and Family Affairs, is conducting this investigation, and is due to report by July 8th.
Meanwhile, Margaret Kennedy, a consultant and specialist in disability and abuse who conducted training programmes for staff with the Brothers of Charity in Galway, told the committee she believed the inquiry which reported last December was not sufficiently rigorous, there was an inadequate analysis of what happened, it failed to call to account anyone responsible for wrongdoing, and it did not track the alleged abusers as they moved from institution to institution. She believed a fresh independent inquiry headed by a senior counsel was required.
She questioned why it was that although 135 residents in Brothers of Charity institutions went to the redress board, just 21 were interviewed for the report which followed the eight-year inquiry.
Patrick McGinley, chief executive of the Brothers of Charity in Galway, said he understood the terms of reference for the redress board were broader, and people could go to it seeking compensation for educational neglect as well as physical and sexual abuse.
He said he deeply regretted the abuses which took place in the Brothers of Charity Services in Galway, and wanted to again apologise to victims.
He said as soon as the allegations of abuse came to light the Garda and the WHB were informed. Two of the abusers have been convicted in court.
Mr Reaney said that 28 people with disabilities were interviewed for the WHB report, and most of these had been identified after they had contacted a helpline set up after the inquiry was established.
Mr Shatter asked why they did not try to contact other service users. Mr McGinley said appeals were made for people to come forward on TV, radio and through newspaper advertisements.
He added that there was nobody now in the employment of the Brothers of Charity Services against whom allegations of abuse were made.
Dr Kevin McCoy, retired chief inspector of Northern Ireland Social Services, who was asked in 2006 to complete the WHB report by viewing documentation it had collected, said limitations were imposed on the inquiry by its terms of reference and by the fact that it was non-statutory.