I am raising an issue that I have raised on numerous occasions with the Taoiseach over the past couple of years. It must be raised as often as possible so it will, at some stage, be dealt with comprehensively. The Health Service Executive, HSE, has to realise that this will not go away. It was bad when we heard about the activities of the so-called Brandon, who was failed himself by the HSE. The families were let down by the HSE at all stages and not told the truth about their loved ones. Even to this day, some of them have not heard the full story from the HSE.

A couple of weeks ago in the national papers we read about another report that is being carried out by the HSE that has identified an additional ten abusers in Ard Gréine Court and the Seán Ó Hehir unit in Ballybofey, County Donegal. This is the same place where Brandon lived and worked. One of the most shocking things about this report is that it was prepared by a trawl of files within the centre, so all the information was on file in the centre which means management knew about it all along. It is worth saying that again. The HSE management knew all about these cases at all times.

Families read about the new cases in the newspapers. Some of them have been contacted by the HSE to tell them their loved one was abused by someone else other than Brandon and some, thankfully, have been told their loved one was not abused, but very few. We must question why this happened and how, at this stage, the families are finding out like this. All the families with loved ones in Ard Gréine, whether abused or not, should be offered independent advocacy even at this late stage.

We cannot rely on the HSE at this stage to do the right thing. As if we needed confirmation, this shows it has let down residents, families and their own staff in the most horrible way.

I understand the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is drawing up a report on the Brandon case that will be published so that we can be aware of and speak freely about what has happened. When will the Minister of State's report be forthcoming?

I really think the only solution to this situation is a Muckamore Abbey-type inquiry like we have seen in the North. Will the Government report and make sure a full public inquiry will take place so we can be sure the families, residents and staff receive full information as to what went on in Ard Gréine Court and indeed all disability services within Donegal and under the HSE nationally? The HSE nationally has tried to block the discussion on this case as much as it can, but at least it cannot yet control the Dáil. We need to have this happen as quickly as possible.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important and very serious issue. As he says, the HSE commissioned the National Independent Review Panel, NIRP, to carry out a review into very serious incidents of concern which took place between 2003 and 2016. That resulted in the publication in December of the National Independent Review Panel - Brandon Report for Publication. Prior to the NIRP commission, a look-back review into these incidents had been conducted by an external expert. To ensure completeness, HSE community healthcare organisation, CHO, 1 separately commenced a file review period from 1991 to 2002, reflecting the time period that Brandon was in the care of disability services. The purpose of this was to screen all records for any notations referring to alleged or actual sexual conduct during this timeframe. Once this work was completed, it was then externally validated. This file review and validation report was recently made available to the Minister of State with responsibility for disability matters, Deputy Rabbitte. The Minister of State also met with the HSE in recent weeks to discuss the reports and issues raised.

The HSE is continuing to progress the recommendations from this exercise as well as those of the Brandon report. The HSE advises it is prioritising engagement with service users and families affected by the outcome of the review. Further support offers will be made in the coming weeks when residents' families will have time to consider what may be helpful to them. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, together with senior officials in the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth are close to finalising terms of reference for an independent safeguarding review of disability services in Donegal. An independent expert on safeguarding will be appointed to chair the review.

The report - that is the validation report in my understanding - has been provided to An Garda Síochána. In response, on 17 June the Garda advised that it has conducted a preliminary perusal of the report and appendices. Given the historic nature of many of the issues, a considerable trawl of records will be needed, which An Garda Síochána says will require a period of time to conduct, and then the report will need to be reviewed and compared with existing information. An Garda Síochána has indicated a period of six weeks will be required to undertake this process.

The Government continues to take these issues very seriously and to take allegations of abuse particularly seriously. We appreciate people coming forward to report safeguarding concerns to the appropriate authorities and professional bodies.

In respect of the core question the Deputy has asked, in terms of an inquiry, I will discuss this further with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and with other members of Government in respect of what is transpiring here and the outcome of the latest validation report. Equally, we have to take on board what An Garda Síochána is saying. I am going to wait the six weeks for the trawl it is doing. We do not want to undermine any action the Garda will have to take on this either. That is something we cannot just dismiss.

I thank the Taoiseach for the response. It raises more questions. I was not going to deal with this today but I think it has to be dealt with. The Garda was informed about Brandon and for ten years it did nothing. The Garda is not the body that is going to be responsible for dealing with this. It is sad to say we cannot rely on the Garda but that is a fact. This is a lot bigger. There have been failings right across the board, not only in the HSE, although the HSE is the main cause of it. The Garda has failed and I believe HIQA has failed. There have been serious failures. The people they have failed are the residents, families and staff members of Ard Gréine Court and wider services right across Donegal.

It has to be an independent report. I am sorry, but I would not put any store on the Garda at this stage in relation to it. It has not been dealt with and it has not been published rightly through this, but they have nothing to benefit in relation to this.

I urge the Taoiseach to talk to his Cabinet colleagues and the Minister and look at having an independent report. An independent investigation is the only way that this can be done because it has to be done in the open and fully out there. This would never have come out at all if it was left to the HSE. This would be hidden all the time. That is the reality of the situation.

What may have happened ten years ago may not inform what could happen today in terms of the rigour of a Garda investigation. We have been told it would be about six weeks. Given all that has happened, we are prepared, obviously, to give the Garda that six weeks. However, I am not dismissing, ultimately, what the Deputy is suggesting and will give that very careful consideration in terms of how we take this forward to give clarity and answers to the families and victims.

I am aware of what the Deputy said regarding the validation report. I only became aware of that very recently in preparation for this situation. It is very serious. Given the potential scale of it, it could very well merit an inquiry of some sort. We have to work through how best to do that.