The mother of a young intellectually disabled boy who was sexually assaulted in a HSE-funded residential care centre is demanding answers for what happened to her son.
The 12-year-old boy was the victim of two separate assaults by another resident at the centre in recent weeks.
In one instance, the boy was found covered in faeces after he was locked in his bedroom by the perpetrator, with staff at the centre unable to find keys to unlock the door and end the attack.
A report on this incident compiled by the service provider - seen by RTÉ - shows how the centre did not notify the boys mother for almost three days - 64 hours - after the assault.
The centre also did not notify the child and family agency Tusla for three days and reported the incident to gardaí after 11 days.
Twelve-year-old "Fionn" - which is not his real name - lives with severe autism, moderate intellectual disability and ADHD on a daily basis. He requires constant supervision and assistance and struggles to verbalise.
As his family struggled to looked after him, Fionn was placed under the legal care of Tusla which along with the HSE, co-funds his placement in a residential care unit in the east of the country.
In early August, Fionn was sexually assaulted by another young resident - who made inappropriate physical contact with him.
However, Fionn's mother says she only learned about this incident by chance during his child in care review in late August. She says she was assured at this point that all necessary measures would be put in place to ensure Fionn's safety.
However, on 1 September Fionn was assaulted by the same resident again.
According to the report by the service provider, the other resident ran into Fionn's bedroom when he was sleeping and locked himself in the bedroom for approximately four minutes.
The young person was unsupervised with Fionn.
Staff on duty shouted for them to leave the room, but were unable to immediately unlock the door or see what was happening inside. The incident report states how staff at the centre continued to bang on Fionn's bedroom door, requesting the perpetrator to unlock the door.
They could hear Fionn crying and repeating the words "no, no, no". Staff at the centre were unable to get into the room for the duration of the assault.
The review by the service provider states how eventually the perpetrator unlocked the door and ran out with his pants down around his ankles and his genitals exposed.
When staff entered the room, they found Fionn with his pyjama bottoms down and covered in faeces.
The young boy was crying. After being cleaned up by staff, Fionn repeated "take my tongue out", and began to pull on his tongue. He repeatedly asked "why" before he fell asleep.
"The trauma of an experience where one of my children faced the imminent threat of serious harm or even death has left me shaken to my core," said the boy's mother to RTÉ's Drivetime.
"There is enduring anguish. Guilt and helplessness eat at me, wondering if I could have done more. The anger and frustration, directed at those involved or the circumstances that allowed the incident to occur, is palpable," she added.
The residential centre did not inform Fionn's mother for almost three days about what happened to her son. She claims she was only given sparse details at that point.
He was brought to hospital the following day - unbeknownst to his mother at the time - but it took five days for him to receive a sexual assault examination.
"I want to know how and why. I have tried getting these answers from the HSE and Tusla with no satisfaction," Fionn's mother told RTÉ.
"I never got a clear answer as to why the staff did not seek to retrieve the keys to unlock the door. My son could have died choking on someone else's excrement. Can you think of an even more inhumane and degrading way to leave this world?"
The report prepared by the service provider states the incident was extremely difficult for Fionn and clearly had a significant impact on him.
The perpetrator has since left the centre.
"I don't know how he even manages to put a smile on his face after all that has happened to him. When he was last with me, I tried to engage him about the incident. I said to him, 'Fionn I know what happened to you'."
She added: "He stopped and looked me straight in the eye, stopped what he was doing. He may not be able to talk very well or express himself, but he is a human being with a thought process, with feelings, and just like any other 12-year-old boy that had that happen to him, I'm sure he's traumatised".
"Worst of all, he's not able to fully communicate or express that or release it"
"I will continue to press that he'll receive a full psychological evaluation and a plan will be put in place to offer him therapy after this horrific experience."
She continued: "People's taxes pay for these placements. I think if their taxes are providing for these kinds of things to happen and for families to be treated the way I have then there might be a problem".
After receiving notifications from the service provider, Tusla and the boy's mother, gardaí are conducting a sexual abuse investigation in connection with the incident.
A spokesperson for the HSE said it takes its responsibilities in this area very seriously.
They said when an event - such as what happened to Fionn - takes place, the service provider should make contact with a HSE Disability Manager as soon as possible and issue a Serious Event Notification.
The HSE also said an allegation - such as what happened here -- would be escalated to the Head of Disability Services for the area and trigger an emergency meeting and that HSE personnel would visit the residential centre itself, to ensure the health and safety of those there.
The HSE says it is not aware of any delays in reporting major incidents in child disability services recently.
The service provider for Fionn's care declined to comment, saying it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases.
A spokesperson for Tusla says the agency consistently monitors children in care but added how it hopes to incrementally reduce the dependency on private residential care in the years ahead.
Questions connected to this incident have also been raised in the Dáil recent weeks.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this report support is available at rte.ie/helplines.
