Donegal man's 'decade of hell' over false abuse accusations

A Donegal man falsely accused of abusing his children was let down by ‘serious failings’ by Tusla.

Deputy Pearse Doherty raised the matter with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Groman, the in the Dáil on Wednesday morning.

The man was accused of abusing his son and daughter. The man was accused of physically abusing his son, who lived with him in Donegal, and his daughter, who resided in Northern Ireland.

Deputy Doherty has said that Tusla fabricated record claiming that the man had confessed to abusing his son. This was only discovered when the man submitted a Freedom of Information request to Tusla, the the dedicated State agency responsible for improving wellbeing and outcomes for children.

“These were accusations which destroyed his life,” Deputy Doherty said.

“It took three years for Tusla to investigate this incident. As a result of Tusla’s delay in investigating these false allegations, all attempts made by the constituent in having access to his daughter, or to clear his name, were met with accusations of harassment by social services staff in the North.

“Inexplicably, when Tusla did investigate these allegations three years later they fabricated records claiming the constituent had confessed to a Tusla official of abusing his son.

“This false recording was not rectified for two years.”

Deputy Doherty said the family in question “were put through a decade of hell because of false accusations in repeatedly not being believed. During this time his reputation was destroyed, his business ceased and he lost access to his daughter.”

He was accused of punching his daughter to the stomach in 2014 and it wasn’t until she admitted, 11 minutes later, that she was told to say that her father punched her.

Tulsa has since formally apologised to the man for their failings in relations to him and his family.

Deputy Doherty, the Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance, said: “The impact of this on the father and his family has been immeasurable.

“These false accusations were handled so badly by the authorities that it has resulted in compensation from the State through the High Court, due to the stress that was caused.

“However, this matter is still not resolved in the North.”

Minister O’Gorman has said that his Department has contacted Tusla and its Chief Operations Officer, and is awaiting a report on the case.

Deputy Doherty said: “I will continue to liaise with the Minister and Department on this important case, and to ensure that these failings, which devastated this father and family, never happen again.”