Members of the Public Accounts Committee have called for the HSE Director General to answer questions after it emerged today that information put into the public domain by Tony O’Brien in a January 2016 radio interview was not accurate.
On 31 January 2016, Mr O’Brien told RTÉ’s This Week programme that gardaí had asked the HSE not to publish a report on failings in the care of a vulnerable woman, 'Grace', from its completion in 2012 until the date of the interview (2016).
The report by management consultant Conal Devine described major failings in the care of 'Grace', who was left by the HSE in a home at the centre of abuse allegations after other residents were removed due to concerns about the allegations.
During the interview Mr O’Brien said: "Throughout the period since the conclusion of the Conal Devine report (2012), and as recently as last Friday (2016) An Garda Siochána has confirmed to the HSE that the report cannot be disseminated."
However, HSE documents released to RTÉ’s This Week programme under the Freedom Of Information Act found that the HSE had not contacted gardaí about publication of the report until March 2015, three years after the report was completed and given to the HSE.
The Conal Devine inquiry team, was told by gardaí in 2011 that there would be no objection to the publication of the report, which identifies failings in the HSE’s care of Grace and in investigations by local gardaí into allegations of abuse.
However, some letters from local gardaí in Grace’s area to the HSE, which have been seen by This Week did object to the publication of the report when asked in 2015.
A report authored by Conor Dignam SC for the Department of Health found that there was no documentary evidence of an intention to publish the Devine report by the HSE until spring 2015.
In July 2016, gardaí wrote to Mr Dignam to inform him that publication of the report was a matter for the HSE. The FOI documents released to RTÉ indicate the HSE did not become aware of garda objections lapsing until December 2016.
Mr O’Brien told the PAC last Thursday that the issue of publication was discussed within the HSE following discussions of the reports at the Oireachtas Health Committee, protected disclosures being made to the PAC by whistleblowers and the media reports on the matter in February 2015. Gardaí were contacted one month later.
PAC members have now called for Mr O’Brien to be recalled to the PAC to answer further questions.
Galway Independent TD Catherine Connolly and Sinn Féin TD for Waterford David Cullinane expressed unhappiness to This Week about the HSE Director General’s evidence to the Committee.
Mr Cullinane described Mr O’Brien as a “hostile witness” at last Thursday’s meeting.
Mr O’Brien told committee members that any evidence he had given to the PAC was in “good faith” and based on the best available information.
The Chair of the PAC has told RTÉ’s This Week programme that the HSE “did not give a fair and full picture” in its evidence to members about its dealings with gardaí in relation to publishing reports into the care of Grace.
PAC Chair Sean Fleming said that he will be forwarding transcripts of last Thursday’s committee meeting to the Commission of Inquiry, which is examining issues around Grace’s care, including allegations of a cover-up.
Mr Fleming also told This Week that there was “definitely an inconsistency” between evidence given by the HSE Director General to the Public Accounts Committee and information released to RTÉ under FOI about when the HSE had contacted gardaí about the publishing of the reports.
Mr O’Brien was attending Thursday’s PAC meeting to correct and clarify previous evidence given in February 2016, which transpired to be inaccurate. His appearance on 2 February 2016 was also due to inaccurate information provided to the PAC in December 2015.
Mr Fleming also expressed concern about a “contradiction” between information given by Mr O’Brien in an interview on RTÉ’s This Week programme in January 2016, a PAC meeting in February 2016 and what has subsequently been released under FOI.
Mr O’Brien apologised for previous inaccurate statements to the PAC and said any HSE information was given "in good faith" and based on the best available information.
He also informed the Committee that there had been angry exchanges with staff who had been involved in providing him with information which transpired not to be correct.
