The next speaker is Deputy Pringle, on behalf of the Independent Group.

I want to raise a very serious case of abuse and neglect by the HSE at Ard Gréine Court in Ballybofey, and the delay in publishing the Brandon report, which outlines what was not done to protect the residents there. The report highlights catastrophic failures of the most vulnerable people by our health services. There is a catalogue of abuse and neglect. The report identifies limited reports of abuse and inappropriate sexual behaviour from 1991 and concentrates on the period between 2003 and 2016. In 2011, management reported the issue to the Garda, as did the whistleblower. In the same year, after the report to the Garda and HIQA by the whistleblower, the individual identified as "Brandon" was isolated within the centre and the abuse stopped. In 2013, because of financial constraints - that needs to be restated; it was done because of financial constraints - Brandon was moved back into the general population within the centre. The abuse started again and only stopped when Brandon was moved to a nursing home in 2016.

The HSE, the Garda and HIQA all have questions to answer in regard to how they did not respond to the needs of residents. The HSE has constantly moved to delay the publishing of the report. First, it was to preserve the identity of people. Then we were treated to the news of a Garda investigation on the day the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, met with families in Donegal to explain to them what was happening. Now we hear there are no charges in regard to the investigation but, apparently, the HSE is still delaying the report, saying it does not reflect what it did. If it wants to put on record what was done, why not publish its own report? Unfortunately, I would say it would be a very interesting but short read.

We see in today's The Irish Times that HIQA has admitted that it was aware of the sexual assaults, but it did not call that out in its reports in March and May of 2016 even though it saw it on the files in the centre. The Taoiseach has said previously that he wants to see the Brandon report published. The catastrophic failures by the HSE to deal with the issues, by HIQA to highlight them and by the Garda to deal with complaints have left families with half-truths and without the full story of what happened to their loved ones.

It is time to respect the existence of those without a voice, who the State was supposed to protect and defend. Will the Tánaiste call today for the Brandon report to be published and add the strength of the Dáil to the calls for publication of the report? Also, how can we be sure that there are no other Brandon-type reports gathering dust in HSE headquarters which we do not know about?

I thank Deputy Pringle for raising this issue and acknowledge his advocacy on this very sensitive matter. Anybody who has read or listened to reports on this issue will have been shocked and very upset at what happened and will struggle to understand how something like this could happen. When I heard about it, I was shocked and appalled that anything like this could happen anywhere at any point in time under any model of care, and for so long. My thoughts in the first instance are with the individuals and families affected. None of us can begin to imagine what they have been put through.

The HSE commissioned the national independent review panel to carry out a review of abuse allegations at a HSE-provided residential service for adults with a disability. The purpose was to review the governance arrangements in the facility and to understand why the situation had continued over a period of years without any effective action being taken by management during Brandon's residency to stop and prevent these assaults. The report identified 108 occurrences of sexually inappropriate behaviours by one resident, referred to by the pseudonym "Brandon", towards 18 other residents of the facility over an eight-year period between 2003 and 2011. The report notes that these incidents occurred with the knowledge of some staff and management of the facility at that time. It was eventually brought to light by the actions of an individual who approached a public representative in October 2016, who, in turn, brought it to the attention of the general manager of the county's disability services.

The safety and protection of vulnerable people in the care of the State are paramount, and the Government's first concern is to ensure that the needs of the current service users are being prioritised. The HSE has assured the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, that there is no ongoing risk and that the national governance and accountability structures to oversee the implementation of the recommendations arising from the report are in place. The HSE board has also advised that its focus is on ensuring that all the recommendations of the report are promptly acted on by the HSE.

With regard to publication of the report, An Garda Síochána has asked the HSE to withhold publication for the time being while it considers the findings. The HSE has indicated that it will publish the findings once it has received clearance to do so. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, will engage with the HSE board on this in the days and weeks ahead. The Minister of State has also written to the Garda Commissioner about the publication of the report. The Government and I support her in this regard and believe that it should be published as soon as possible and without further delay.

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. I pay tribute to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for the work she has done on this and on trying to get the HSE to own up and publish the report. That is vital because how can we be certain that the HSE is implementing changes that could prevent this happening somewhere else? Also, how can we be certain that it has not already happened somewhere else? At this stage, unfortunately, I have no faith in the HSE to deal with this issue. If I had not raised this with the previous Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities at the time, this would have been buried already within the HSE. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has put pressure on the HSE, as a result of pressure I have put on her. She has taken it on and worked very hard to make sure this would happen. It must happen because we need to be confident that this will not happen again. That is the reality. The families have said this and are very strong on this matter. They need to know what happened. It is about making sure that it does not happen again. That is the important thing.

I urge the Tánaiste to push for this to be published, and to push the Garda to say it is not interested and that it is not going to go any further on this. It is very interesting that it is only taking an interest now. This must be published and we need people to take it into account and make it work.

We will certainly do that. The Government will press the HSE and the Garda to have this report published. It needs to be published for two reasons. The families concerned have a right to information and a right to know what happened, who knew what at what point, and how they acted. Anyone involved in this, including some of the staff members - some may have a case to answer and others may be entirely innocent - also have a right to know what is in this report. As the Deputy rightly points out, it is essential that we see the report so that we can be assured that something like this will not happen again. It is hard to contemplate how it went on for over eight years with more than 100 sexual assaults and happened with the knowledge of some of the management and staff. It is hard to comprehend how that could be the case for so long.

As the Deputy acknowledged, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has been very active on this issue. Once she became aware of it, she has been very engaged. On Friday, 15 October she met the families who wished to meet her. She has indicated that the focus must now be on ensuring the findings and recommendations of the report are appropriately dealt with.