By Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor
MANAGEMENT at St John of God failed to report concerns that vulnerable children living at one of its residential care centres might be at risk of abuse – a confidential report has concluded.
The report was commissioned by SJOG this summer after a frustrated whistleblower threatened to protest at the offices of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone.
Whistleblower Mark Smyth – former head of childcare at St Augustine’s – first made a protected disclosure to the Health Minister in November 2017.
Mr Smyth’s disclosure to Simon Harris alleged that management failures – including not reporting allegations of abuse – at the special needs school in Dublin’s Blackrock amounted to the institutional and organisational abuse of children.
But, as reported by the Irish Mail on Sunday last year, Mr Harris repeatedly failed to act on this warning before his department forwarded the matter to the HSE nine months later.
At the time, the HSE told the MoS it had ‘been assured by St John of God Community Services that there are no specific concerns at present’. Now, two o years after the whistleblower’s protected disclosure, a report by an independent childcare expert – commissioned by SJOG itself – has cast doubt on the charity’s assurances.
Instead the report – by Colm Lehane of Clara Learning Ltd – highlights the failure of the charity’s management, over a two-year period, to report concerns of possible abuse and mistreatment at St Augustine’s to the statutory authorities.
‘The children in the care of residential services are particularly vulnerable because they are out of home and not living with their parents/families,’ the report reads.
The concerns relate to a series of allegations and claims that emerged in a protracted human resources dispute among staff at the school for boys with special needs.
These include ‘inappropriate’ contact during ‘horseplay’ with children that might have had a ‘sexual motive’ and concerns about bruising on children.
The report found that management at SJOG treated the matter only as a HR dispute and ignored the child safeguarding issues.
‘There is no information to indicate that this issue of concern was escalated or reported to the organisation’s designated liaison person as a concern of physical abuse,’ it said.
It added that the facts surrounding an allegation of ‘inappropriate horseplay behaviour with children due to sexualised motives… needs to be established as a matter of priority’.
‘If a child may have been, is being or is at risk of being abused or neglected, then a statutory report to Tusla/An Garda SÃochána/ Hiqa is required.’
The report is also damning of SJOG’s treatment of the matter as a HR issue – involving potentially fake claims of abuse – without consideration for the child safeguarding implications. It recommended that SJOG complete a review to establish if further information exists that ‘raises concerns’.
The charity was advised to complete an ‘audit of records to establish if safeguarding concerns have gone unreported’. Staff training is also recommended.
In a statement to the MoS last night, an SJOG spokesman said it was ‘fully committed to protecting the children under its care’, adding that it is implementing the report’s recommendations and has referred the issues to the HSE and Tusla.
The statement added that the latest Hiqa report on St Augustine’s concluded that ‘there were satisfactory systems and arrangements to protect residents from abuse’.
A HSE statement said it had confirmation from SJOG that ‘all concerns’ in the report ‘have been referred to Tusla’. ‘The HSE continues to engage with SJOG on this issue,’ it said.
