HSE to get report into how childcare lecturer kept job

A report into how a childcare lecturer was able to retain his job despite a conviction for sexual assault against minors has been completed and will be sent to the Health Service Executive (HSE)this week.

Dr Niall McElwee, head of childcare and learning at Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT), resigned in July after admitting he had been convicted of indecent assault on teenage girls in the Netherlands in June 2004.

He was given a suspended sentence in 2005, but continued in his post at AIT until last summer when he resigned after he was threatened that his conviction would be made public.

It later emerged that a garda who accompanied Dr McElwee on his trip to Amsterdam in 2004 informed senior gardaí and the midland health board, as it was known at the time, of the conviction, but the information was not passed on to AIT.

The HSE commissioned the Irish Medical Organisation's former industrial relations director, Conal Devine, to carry out an inquiry into the McElwee case.

Former colleagues and children's rights groups criticised the terms of reference which dealt solely with his time at AIT.

They wanted Mr Devine's inquiry to include Dr McElwee's time at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), where he was warned about using explicit pictures of sexually-abused children during his lectures.

The report, which has taken six months, has now been completed and is awaiting printing before being given to the HSE.

It is expected to examine in detail the reasons why Dr McElwee's conviction was not passed on to AIT, and what information the institute knew about it. AIT has always said it was completely in the dark about Dr McElwee's conviction before he resigned.

It will now be up to the HSE to decide when to publish the report, though it is likely to undergo considerable legal vetting before publication.

A statement from the HSE said: "The HSE is committed to establishing the full facts of what information was available to the health services in relation to Dr McElwee.

"The HSE expects to receive the report from Mr Conal Devine, the inquiry's independent chair, in the coming days. Upon receipt of the report, the HSE will consider its findings, and consult with its legal representatives with a view to its publication."