Minister of State for Disabilities Anne Rabbitte has requested a briefing from the HSE, following an RTÉ Investigates report that revealed that a disability charity is refusing to cooperate with a HSE review into allegations that a non-verbal female resident may have been assaulted in one of the charity's care homes.
In a statement issued to RTÉ Investigates, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, said that Ms Rabbitte was "concerned" to hear the media reports concerning the charity, which is funded by the HSE, and had asked the HSE for a briefing on the matter.
"The Government takes matters and allegations of abuse very seriously and values and appreciates individuals coming forward to report safeguarding concerns to the appropriate professional bodies and authorities," the statement added.
On Monday, RTÉ Investigates reported that the parents of a non-verbal woman with an intellectual disability, who was in a charity-run care home, had complained to the HSE in February 2023 after they found significant bruising on her body.
They also complained about an earlier incident in which a male resident had been discovered in her bedroom at night.
The charity is based in the south of the country.
The parents feared that she may have been assaulted while in the charity's care and in June 2023, the HSE initiated a review into the allegations.
However, last January - some seven months after the review began - the parents were told that the HSE review was being "officially paused" because of the non-engagement of the charity's management with the review team.
The review team also told a senior HSE official that its review could not be accomplished "without the engagement" of the charity.
"It was a complete disappointment that the management should be allowed just to have our review paused," the woman’s father told RTÉ Investigates.
Responding to queries from RTÉ Investigates, the charity initially said that it always fully cooperates with "any external review of its activities."
However, it did not address the HSE's claim that the review was paused due to the charity's lack of engagement with the review team.
Separately, the HSE stated a review "taking into account wider matters and which is not focussed on any single circumstance has not been completed."
In its statement, the Department said that the "Minister would expect that organisations in receipt of funding, and who deliver services to some of our most vulnerable citizens, would cooperate with the HSE’s procedures and practices in addressing and learning from serious incidents."
