The Government has affirmed that the final report of the ‘Grace’ case inquiry has been further postponed by six months. The case pertains to allegations of severe sexual and physical abuse targeted at a non-verbal young woman with intellectual disabilities, known as Grace, in the south-east. Despite alerts about the foster home setting, Grace allegedly endured years of abuse and remained in care for over a decade.
The inquiry, presided over by Marjorie Farrelly, a senior counsel, was expected to publish its report two years after it was established in 2017. However, this deadline has been delayed multiple times now.
A Government representative stated that at the cabinet gathering on Tuesday, Roderic O’Gorman, the Minister for Children, and Anne Rabbitte, the Minister of State for Disability, secured approval from ministers to lengthen the deadline for the final submission up tp September 12th this year.
He further clarified, “This extension will provide the Commission with the necessary extra time to finalise its work. The Farrelly Commission is a sovereign Commission of Investigation, established to probe the care and protection of a woman known as ‘Grace’ and others in a former foster home in South East that has been at the centre of abuse allegations.”