Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 1 May 2025

Let's dive into the discussions shaping the nation. So I will endeavor to raise some of the issues that need to be aired on the floor of this House in the time we are sharing. I struggle to express just how astonishing and disappointing all of this is. The Minister said that Grace was at the heart of this process. That is simply not true. The rights, the experiences, the advocacy for Grace have all been, I believe, undermined by this process. Eight years, seven extensions, 2,000 pages, almost 14 million euros. That process and the fact that we are still left in the dark on the critical issues. The sum total of it is that the Commission makes a rather anaemic finding of neglect. I mean, what I have heard of the Grace case spells out depravity to me of a fundamental assault on the most basic human dignity of a person who could not speak for themselves. So to simply dust this off as dental neglect requiring extraction of teeth or minor instances of lapses in hygiene, I think insult Grace and do no real justice or reflection as to what actually happened here. Family X, Mr and Mrs X were neglectful. There were very serious and credible allegations of abuse up to and including sexual abuse. The Commission has chosen to discount that. The Commission report pushes back against those very brave Advocates Minister and the brave whistleblowers who came forward to tell the story. But take from the Commission that the family concerned Family X was neglectful. Of that there is no doubt. That is to vastly understate the case. But the greatest neglect and the greatest failure of Grace is actually the neglect and failure of the state and government itself. Neglect or perhaps even complicity. I want to go back to 1995-1996 where the balloon goes up and the allegations are made and a decision is taken to remove Grace from the home in question. That decision is appealed by Family X. Their appeal fails. They then write to the Minister for Health of the time and the Minister of Health acknowledges receipt of that correspondence and then extraordinarily responds a couple of months later to say the decision was made but there was then another appeal mechanism and the Health Board has reversed that decision. I for one want to know exactly what happened there. I want to know what was the dynamics of that. A decision that had been made, appealed, upheld, turned on its head and a child returned to this hell, this depravity and then left there until again another whistleblower comes forward. I don't believe that the Commission for one second has gotten under the bonnet of exactly what happened there. What it does acknowledge is that there was a political intervention. Would we go so far as to call it political interference? I don't know Minister and the Commission doesn't give us those answers but we must get to those answers. The Commission also extraordinarily decides not to investigate the condition or the experiences of some 47 other children and young people extraordinary, even on their own terms, even on the basis of the anaemic finding of neglect to unilaterally make that call. What has government to say about that? Why has government accepted that? I don't believe that you should have. Minister, there is the case of the general solicitor for minors and wards of court. You met with her yesterday. You see, Minister, in her statement, which to my recollection is unprecedented. I don't remember another case where the general solicitor has come forward in this way. Correct me if I'm wrong. She not alone affirms that substantive and extensive submissions were made on behalf of Grace. The second part of what she says really matters. She says it was not acknowledged nor referred to in the Commission's report. So what on earth was that all about? This report is, to my mind, absolutely shocking. Shocking because it fails Grace again. But all the more shocking, Minister, because the world hasn't changed entirely and all is not well in Ireland still to this day in terms of the safeguarding and wellbeing of vulnerable children in care. And this Commission report not alone does a disservice to Grace, but it does a fundamental disservice to the political, the social, the moral imperative for all of us to insist that vulnerable children and young people are protected and when they are not to demand accountability. This has been called a whitewash. I understand why that term has been used. It's utterly, utterly shocking. And I have no doubt that these are matters that we will have to return to again. Okay. Thank you, Debbie. Like, share, and subscribe, and let us know your thoughts in the comments. We'd love to hear from you.