Tusla staff responsible for leaving children in a foster home from hell, where three girls were raped, are still working for the Child and Family Agency, it has emerged.
The disturbing revelation comes following a damning report about Tusla and the HSE’s handling of sexual abuse against the girls, all aged under 10, in a foster home in Dunmore, Galway, between 2003 and 2007.
Service director with Tusla, Dr Aisling Gillen, has confirmed that some staff who were aware of the allegations are still working with the agency.
She said: “A number of those staff are still in the system.
“Basically what we are trying to do is layer in significant practice change, significant cultural change and the handling of all of this work.
“They [staff] are there, they are now in a climate with sufficient staff, where there are national policies and local policies in place over the handling of abuse of children.”
The investigation, led by the National Review Panel, came about after one of the victims, Rachel Barry, waived her right to anonymity to reveal she was regularly raped by monster Keith Burke.
He is the son of her then foster parents, Kathleen and Gerry Burke. She was just eight years old when the sexual abuse began.
But despite Ms Barry revealing to her own biological mother, while still an eight-year-old child, that she had been raped and claiming another girl in the home had been too, children were allowed to continue to be fostered in the Galway house.
Some years later, two other female victims that had been in the home revealed they too had been regularly raped by evil Burke.
The 30-year-old was caged last year after being found guilty of raping the three victims.
Dr Gillen said: “I am absolutely assured that in our current handling of allegations of abuse against children in foster care, that we are very robust in response and that our focus is children first.
“I believe Tusla is fit for purpose, I am very clear we are working towards much better standards and practices.”
She told RTE Radio One: “We are not perfect but we are absolutely addressing the issues we see in front of us.”
The report into the handling of the abuse outlined that there were “flaws in management” by both the HSE and Tusla.
The 22-page report found that the assessment of the Burke family to check if they were suitable to foster was “brief” and “lacked detail”.
Despite Rachel Barry disclosing she had been sexually abused while in the Burke home, the family were never again reviewed by services while they still had children in their care.
A safety plan put in place at the time of the allegations indicated that Keith Burke should not be left alone with the children but the report found he continued to spend “a lot of time” in the family home.
Reacting to the shocking report, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “I think it is a deeply disturbing case and we should never forget that there are individuals, people who are very damaged by all of this and still hurting today.
“The report hasn’t been published yet, I haven’t seen it myself but it will be published in the next couple of weeks and we will act on it.”
The report concludes by stating management involved “failed to recognise the seriousness” of the initial allegation and “failed to respond proportionately”.
