But there is STILL truth. There is still the integrity of many good journalists hell bent on TRUTH. Without them the awfulness of life cannot be uncovered. We need these journalists in Ireland now more than ever.
As you all know I've been 'in the news' a lot. In most cases its to do with my campaigning for justice for sick or disabled people. Or my other hearts love - justice for victims of child sexual assault, sexual violence and rape and Clergy sexual abuse of children and of adults.
YES, DISABLED children are sexually abused, raped, sodomised. That was 'the story' in the early 1990's. I broke it. It changed child protection in the UK where I lived and worked.
YES, there are CHRISTIANS of all denominations that were sexually assaulted, raped, by their church going, god-loving parents. that was 'the Story' in the early 1990's also. I broke it (at least in the UK) .
YES, Christian Clergy, men who wore clerical collars DID sexually assault, rape, make pregnant Christian women who sought help, counselling, spiritual direction and it was NOT an 'affair'. That story in the mid 1990's was covered but rejected largely by the masses who blamed The WOMEN for their own violation. I researched this area for my PhD.
YES, Eric Gill the great Catholic sculptor and calligraphist, who carved the Stations of the Cross in Westminster Cathedral, London, WAS a rampant sexual predator who targeted his children, maids, prostitutes and animals. a story that I uncovered (at least in the public domain) in the 1990's to horrific cries of 'censorship' because I wanted those Stations of the Cross removed. Why I asked, should those of us sexually assaulted as children or adults, be asked to meditate and pray at these stations carved by the hands of a sexual predator? This argument was called 'censorship' and the outrage of my premise was to do the 'uncovering' of Eric Gill's secret for everyone. But the Stations remain and are glorified by the Catholic Church. Nothing new there.
But the story in Ireland that I try to uncover is still NOT uncovered. Why? FEAR, fear of an institution so powerful it has the chains on us all. Men, women and children, parents, sick children, sick adults, disabled people, elderly, mentally ill people. It chains the politicians, it chains the charities, it chains the press. What is this malevolent entity. It is the HSE - The Irish 'Health Service Executive.
Am I the first to 'break this story' no, I'm not.
In 2015 a report by academics in the NUI Galway wrote of a terrible claim
which was reported by Noel Baker of the Irish Examiner:
http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiNyYmX99fRAhUpCcAKHfS5BcIQFggZMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishexaminer.com%2Fireland%2Fparents-allege-hse-retaliation-against-them-327823.html&usg=AFQjCNGgvhsqzeWtOisL_R51CIzNn23-nw&sig2=wIkusEQ23_XDpRvNw_L9BA
"Parents of Children with disabilities have claimed they are victims of "retaliation" by bodies schools and HSE if they complain about how their child [was]not being able to access services"
He quoted the NUI report further:
"Parents consistently spoke of difficulties in accessing the services their child needed ...many parents experience retaliatory actions when they make complaints against a state body for failure to deliver services...one parent who made a complaint regarding an inaccurate statement ...said that her three children who all had special needs were excluded from HSE services and the family had to pay out of pocket for the support they needed".
My first 'run-in' concerning 'Retaliatory Action' with the HSE and a Charity came when I was professionally obligated to 'whistle-blow' abuse of Disabled people in 2003. That 'whistle-blowing' resulted in two major inquiries of the Brothers of Charity and the Western Health Board (WHB) now the HSE, by independent investigators.
I was now NOT the favoured 'expert consultant' brought over from London to train Brothers of Charity staff after whistle blowing. The Director of the Brothers of Charity at the time was allowed to write in a HSE Professional Investigation (sic) report, which was published and distributed widely in HSE circles about my 'unprofessional' work. Furthermore he was allowed state (anonymously) that I had not reported any abuse I might have witnessed. I sued, and won. I HAD reported abuses I knew of, in writing and NO-ONE was going to impugn my very high professional expertise and reputation by calling me 'unprofessional' as a Retaliatory Action' to cover their own failings. It took ten years to 'clear my name,
http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjG7OaZ5dfRAhXKKMAKHdiZCrYQFggnMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fconnachttribune.ie%2Fsettlement-for-former-consultant-with-brothers-of-charity-galway%2F&usg=AFQjCNEPzqObaBU2JSVQ753l84MlAGTlyA&sig2=XNeBvNlhslP79PbyEXy1DQ
My second more recent attack by the HSE of 'Retaliatory action' by the HSE comes not as a professional but as a patient with a Rare progressive Neuro-muscular Disease. Retired due to this disease and living in Co Wicklow, I had cause to complain about lack of services of care and support. so had my identical twin sister Ann, who has the same disease. We went 'public' to the newspapers, we sat outside the Dail, we went on TV. What did the HSE do?
They labelled both of us 'serial complainants' under the HSE policies of Vexatious complainants. I only discovered Ann had been deemed as such a YEAR after a full team of ALL MANAGERS of services in Co Wicklow met to declare her officially a 'serial complainant'.
I found this out when she obtained her notes under 'freedom of information' (FOI) and I read them. Delving further I asked for the policy documents which advised me the person had to be first warned, have a right of reply and if necessary legal representation. None of this happened. She was deemed a 'serial complainant, by every manager in the service, behind her back, without her knowledge or without any right of reply or representation. We would never have known but for obtaining the HSE files under FOI. It had travelled the length and breathe of the HSE . To do irreparable damage. The 'bad-mouthing' by the HSE sticks. We know it. We feel it.
So I got MY notes and I found a senior manager telling another senior manager by email, that we were 'serial complainers', I was included too. This manager then sent the email to ANOTHER manager. The gossip ruining our reputation, again travelled the length and breath of the HSE management.
I officially complained. My complaint was upheld by a former ombudsman, acting as independent investigator. He castigated the HSE for not allowing us a fair 'right of reply' , for lack of due process and fairness. For not investigating our complaints about services and recommended the HSE 'apologise, (they did) own responsibility (they said they did) and enter mediation to sort out our care services (so far not yet)'. He said we had every right to complain, and that several complaints did not constitute 'serial complainants' and each had to be investigated.
We are now 'in mediation' with the HSE about our care and support. Are they sorting the problems? Not a bit of it. Same old 'run-a-round' to deny us the care and support we need. They know we cannot afford to sue them. There seems NO obligation on them to put in a care and support package WE need. No Disability Act 2005 makes a damn bit of difference and we disabled people have no Human Rights legislation as Ireland is the ONLY EU country NOT to Ratify the UN Convention on Rights for people with Disabilities. We are neither Equal or Human it seems.
The HSE 'game-playing' is exhausting and we allege, abusive. We call and name it, we allege ABUSE but there is no HIQA there to investigate alleged HSE abuse in the primary care, by primary care professional's or managers in local communities. The 'Your Service - Your Say' complaints processes are useless exercises, as HSE managers of those you complain about investigate their OWN workers. Neither transparent or independent. There is a gross 'conflict of interest'. There is No TULSA to inform, no media who will highlight it.
HSE Managers have free reign to do as they like leaving sick disabled, elderly twins with a Rare Neuro-Muscular degenerative Disease without proper services. They can tarnish our reputation, and have, right to the top of the HSE chain, even to Enda Kenny with impunity .
No-one is willing to break the chains of malpractice and abuse by HSE managers at primary Care level. No media willing to Run with the on-going saga. Its NOT a 'New Story'.
Yesterday a Journalist asked "is it a NEW story", "no" I replied, "its been on-going for over 10 years" . She said she doubted any newspaper would cover it because it was NOT A NEW STORY.
In one respect , she's right. its NOT a new story. the HSE have punished clients for years, clients who 'cause trouble', whistle-blow', complain.
And vulnerable people will continue to suffer until the media have the courage and persistence to cover this OLD story of Abuse; called 'Retaliatory Action' by the HSE.
who is willing to break the chains..Galway NUI did, Noel Brown of the Examiner did
The Kennedy Twins did.....
But it must continue. It cannot stop until it IS Stopped..'Retaliatory Action' by the HSE is ABUSE. It's got to be named and STOPPED.
