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THE DEPARTMENT OF Children has said it deleted reports pertaining to the welfare of children in State care due to concerns that processing the information would breach data protection regulations.
In May, the retired Judge Dermot Simms emailed the Minister, attaching four reports that expressed concern about children taken into care by Tusla.
Three out of four reports were deleted – a move which has been branded “crazy” by Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, after he requested the information through a parliamentary question.
In a statement today, the Department said that Minister Roderic O’Gorman “shares the judge’s concern” but it “did not have a legal basis” to keep or process the information in the reports.
“Following consideration of the Department’s statutory responsibilities in relation to data protection, the Department formed the view that it did not have a legal basis to process the personal data contained in three of those four reports, and those reports were subsequently deleted from the Department’s records,” it said.
“The Department must discharge its statutory responsibilities under data protection legislation in relation to the processing of personal information.
“While the Department could not process three of the reports which were attached to the judge’s correspondence, the substantive issues to which the reports related were set out in the correspondence itself.”
It added that O’Gorman will continue to work with Tusla and others to ensure vulnerable children “receive the best possible service”.
“The care and welfare of children is a priority for Government, with a particular focus on those who are most vulnerable including children in the care of the State. The issues referenced in the judge’s letter are the subject of ongoing engagement between Tusla and the officials in his Department.”
Earlier this week, Tóibín described the Minister’s actions as “impossible to comprehend”, saying that the decision is an example of “GDPR overreach”.
“The Minister is directly responsible to ensure the safety of children in state care. A retiring judge stuck his neck out to bring very serious matters to the attention of the Minister for Children,” he said.
“I have had much contact with social workers on the ground who are very concerned about [Special Emergency Accommodation], in particular in relation to the astronomical amount of funding devoted to them, the lack of vetting procedures and qualifications of staff and the level of care to children in emergency accommodation.
“Following these concerns I asked the Minister if he would furnish me with copies of the reports. This week he replied saying that on foot of GDPR concerns three out of the four reports have been deleted upon receipt by his Department.
“This is crazy stuff – the idea that rather than acting on the very serious allegations and disclosures made by Judge Simms and the reports attached, the Minister instead opted to delete the correspondence.”
Tóibín accused the Minister of using GDPR “as cover for a lack of action”.
“The Minister, it seems, is deleting correspondence from a retired judge even though the children are anonymised in the reports, citing GDPR.
“Our care system is at breaking point – and Aontú believes we need better funding for voluntary care providers, much stronger regulation of Special Emergency Accommodation, better pay for foster families, more foster families and more social workers.”
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Another day another case of the HSE treating Joe & Mary public like dirt
Still I’m sure lessons will be learnt going forwards etc etc
Also maybe a pay rise might help
I’m going through this at the moment I tried North of lreland first and found out I will get caught for over 3 thousand, so I went through the Spain idea and was in final moment of going and pulled out I had a gut feeling the dublin company something felt wrong so I’m back now with North of lreland process, I thought the whole affair was stressful and still is at moment
I would be very interested lads if any of ye have got stuff done in North of lreland as in knee replacement and how much ye had to pay how did it go etc
@Tim Herlihy: Mum got her hip done in 2018. She paid, if I recall correctly, GBP 7,000.
She has told me she received the full payment from the HSE. I don’t know how it was all set up but it was a private hospital in Ballykelly called North West – Kingsbridge Private Hospital.
As she lives in Donegal it wasn’t difficult to travel for the appointments.
@Tricia G: YEP that’s the hospital, few weeks ago they gave me 6 days notice I said I had to think about it I’m down in cork,wouldn’t make appointment on train and most of my gang where away for Easter, I was told for knee 12thousand and few hundred and the hse would give over 9 thousand there’s about,thanks for information
@Tricia G: sorry same name hospital but in Belfast
@Tim Herlihy: Try to get your surgery done in NI so there is no language barrier. I went to Germany for a procedure that is not available in Ireland. It was almost half of what it would have been in Ireland (estimated and approved for a procedure available in Ireland closest to the one I had to have done) BUT once I submitted my claim they tried everything not to reimburse me. In Germany they don’t issue receipts, they send invoices with the bank details where and by when to make the payment to. It took me a year until they were accepted. They also wanted every single detail translated to English, but as the official language is German the hospital would not provide those in English. I sent them translations, but havn’t been able to recover all my expanses two years later.
@Tricia G: my father had a procedure carried out there in 2017. Organised by his GP in Donegal as well. HSE refused payment on the grounds that he wasn’t on a waiting list. This was untrue and backed up by his GP
Never, to this day was the cost reimbursed. On a side note, Ballykelly was absolutely excellent
@Inno Items: still waiting, almost 6 years ago
@Inno Items: that’s terrible
@Pat Rafferty: I’m so sorry for you! I might follow the same way. I contracted Covid in hospital and am now suffering from long Covid. I just don’t have the energy to do all the translations, follow ups and administration over and over again. Every time they put a new case manager in charge I need to start from scratch.
@Tim Herlihy: I hope, now as the issue has been highlighted they won’t do this to you! I don’t know if there is any appeal if they don’t reimburse the approved amount.
Of course they did. Have to be as incompetent as every other department.
@Mike Magan: Revenue, funnily enough, aren’t incompetent.
Another example of HSE management and administrative incompetence and intransigence, unable to do their jobs while patients and nursing staff suffer under their uselessness.
@Richard Starling: Well please remember that when Minister Donnelly and his cronies come knocking for votes next time around.
@Richard Starling: Not forgetting GPs.
Overpayed bureocratic and heartless clown’s
The higher echelon’s of HSE are behind reproach. They badly need a new approach. This will only happen when their is a new mindset, and get rid of the dragons etc, who lack any with anyone outside their circle. This starts with GPs who are being thrown from pillar to post. The life veins for the people. The HSE are not nice.
@Martin O’Reilly: Sorry The higher echelon’s are “beyond reproach” etc, etc.
have your say