Department of Health autism dossiers scandal

Last updated

The Department of Health autism dossiers scandal concerns the compilation of secret dossiers on children with autism by the Department of Health in Ireland. [1]

Contents

Revelation

On 25 March 2021, RTÉ Investigates broadcast a documentary which interviewed whistleblower Shane Corr, who alleged that the Department of Health had secretly gathered information from private consultations with doctors. [1] [2] The families in question had been involved in legal action against the state. [2] The alleged dossiers contained sensitive medical and educational information about the children in question, as well as their parents and siblings. [2]

The information was gathered with the cooperation of the Health Service Executive and Department of Education. [2]

The cases are dormant and the information was shared with a view to help the Department of Health with legal strategy. [2] There has been no active litigation in the cases in question nor has there been any evidence they could be reactivated. [2]

Template letters seen by RTÉ emphasised keeping the families ignorant of the information gathering. [2] The information was gathered on the explicit grounds that neither the children, their families nor their solicitors were informed. [2] The cases were dormant before 2010. [2]

Information was collated and stored in a database that was accessible within part of the Department of Health. [2]

Simon Corr had previously made a protected disclosure to his superiors in 2020 before telling RTÉ Investigates about the matter. [2]

Responses

Data protection expert Daragh O'Brien said that by not informing families, there seems to be a breach of Irish law, EU law (including GDPR) and their fundamental rights. [2]

Catherine Ghent, a solicitor specialising in children's rights, said that the cases were dormant as far as families knew and the Department of Health should not have worked on the cases without informing them. [2]

Paul Reid, chief of the HSE, said the matter was 'extremely concerning'. [1] He also said that the HSE had tried contacting RTÉ about any breaches of confidentiality. [1]

The Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters has said that the compilation of dossiers could be a breach of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. [3]

Reviews

Robert Watt, newly appointed secretary-general at the Department of Health, told the Health Committee that there was no evidence that the department was compiling secret dossiers in the manner that RTÉ portrayed. [4] He said that as co-defendant, the department may have documents related to the matters, but that there is no evidence the department had never directly sought clinical reports from clinicians on plaintiffs. [4]

After two reports were published by the Department of Health, Conor Ryan of RTÉ pointed out that the internal review placed a particular emphasis on the word "directly", using it more than twenty times. [5] The primary allegation was not that information was directly requested from clinicians, but that information gleaned from them was compiled into dossiers on dormant cases. [5]

There was a second review by Senior Counsel Conleth Brady. [5]

The internal review confirmed that in six cases medical reports were found in Department of Health files. [5] The internal review said that "service updates were sought from service managers in the HSE" as opposed to clinicians. [5] According to the senior counsel report the contact was between the department and "HSE management". [5] In most cases the department was able to get information indirectly. [5]

In relation to the Department of Education, the internal review said "there is no evidence that the Department of Health sought updates or reports on plaintiffs directly from Schools or the Department of Education". [5] Conor Ryan also points out "sought" and "directly" are key words in the review - that the department had confirmed that it had received information from school reports, but that it had not "sought" it, but had obtained it "in the usual way". [5] The Department of Health was copied in on information sent by the Department of Education to the Chief State Solicitor's Office, which was a co-defendant in some cases. [5] The Department of Health kept this information. [5]

Both reviews confirmed the department had used spreadsheets to process and store information on children and also the use of a template letter sent by the department to the HSE repeatedly requesting information on children and their families. [5] Letters specifically state that "this is not a request to contact any of the plaintiffs involved in the litigation or their families or their legal advisors and indeed we would request you do not do so in relation to this request". [5] The reports confirm that updated sensitive information was repeatedly received, processed and stored by the department in relation to the requests. [5]

The Brady review said that he had reviewed a large number of the spreadsheets kept by the department and agreed with the whistleblower that "some of the information contained in the spreadsheets is sensitive and in some cases refers to what are distressing circumstances". [5]

Data Protection Commissioner's review

The Data Protection Commissioner launched a statutory inquiry into the allegations under section 110 of the Data Protection Act 2018. [6] [7]

Data Protection Commissioner's decision

In July 2023 Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon fined the department €22,500, reprimanded it for the excessive collection of data and banned it from continuing the practice. [8] Whistleblower Shane Corr welcomed the decision. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health Service Executive</span> National public health and social services authority in Ireland

The Health Service Executive (HSE) is the publicly funded healthcare system in Ireland, responsible for the provision of health and personal social services. It came into operation on 1 January 2005.

Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 Lancet MMR autism fraud, characterised as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years". The fraudulent research paper authored by Andrew Wakefield and published in The Lancet falsely claimed the vaccine was linked to colitis and autism spectrum disorders. The paper was retracted in 2010 but is still cited by anti-vaxxers.

Since at least the 1970s, many Irish political scandals relating to miscarriage of justice, dereliction of duty and corruption by public officials have resulted in the establishment of extra-judicial Tribunals of Enquiry, which are typically chaired by retired High-Court judges and cannot make judgements against any of the parties. Since 2004 many such scandals have been investigated by the less costly but less transparent Commissions of Investigation. Many Irish scandals, however, have not resulted in trials or public enquiries.

The sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne was investigated by the Commission of Investigation, Dublin Archdiocese, Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, examining how allegations of sexual abuse of children in the diocese were dealt with by the church and state. The investigation, which resulted in the publication of the Cloyne Report in July 2011, was led by Judge Yvonne Murphy. The inquiry was ordered to look at child protection practices in the diocese and how it dealt with complaints against 19 priests made from 1996.

This article summarises convictions and allegations of child sexual abuse by clergymen in the Raphoe Diocese, Ireland.

The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 was an Act of the Oireachtas which, until 2018, defined the circumstances and processes within which abortion in Ireland could be legally performed. The act gave effect in statutory law to the terms of the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the 1992 judgment Attorney General v. X. That judgment allowed for abortion where pregnancy endangers a woman's life, including through a risk of suicide. The provisions relating to suicide had been the most contentious part of the bill. Having passed both Houses of the Oireachtas in July 2013, it was signed into law on 30 July by Michael D. Higgins, the President of Ireland, and commenced on 1 January 2014. The 2013 Act was repealed by the Health Act 2018, which commenced on 1 January 2019.

Events during the year 2020 in Ireland. As in most of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic dominated events in Ireland during this year.

William Gerard Anthony Holohan is an Irish public health physician who served as Chief Medical Officer of Ireland from May 2008 to 1 July 2022. Fergal Bowers described him as being "as familiar as Dr Anthony Fauci in the US and arguably as influential".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland</span> Ongoing COVID-19 viral pandemic in the Republic of Ireland

The COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In Ireland, it has resulted in 1,725,026 cases and 9,366 deaths.

The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland</span> Indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland

The COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland has had far-reaching consequences in the country that go beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to quarantine it, including political, educational and sporting implications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics in the Republic of Ireland</span> Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics in the Republic of Ireland

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted and affected the political system of the Republic of Ireland, causing suspensions of legislative activities and isolation of multiple politicians due to fears of spreading the virus. Several politicians have tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education in the Republic of Ireland</span> Irish school and university closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

On 12 March 2020, all schools, colleges, and childcare facilities in the Republic of Ireland were shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shutdown resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 Leaving Certificate and 2020–2021 Junior Certificate examinations, as well as all 2020–2021 Irish language summer courses in the Gaeltacht.

Events during the year 2021 in Ireland. As in most of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated events in Ireland during this year.

The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccination in the Republic of Ireland</span> Immunisation plan against COVID-19

The COVID-19 vaccination programme in the Republic of Ireland is an ongoing mass immunisation campaign that began on 29 December 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland. Ireland's vaccination rollout has been praised as one of the most successful rollouts in the world and was ranked number one in the European Union in terms of its percentage of adult population fully vaccinated, and was also ranked number one in the EU for the number of booster vaccines administered.

COVID-19 testing in the Republic of Ireland can identify whether a person is infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19. The developing and delivering of testing of Ireland was led by the staff in the National Virus Reference Laboratory. With the acquisition of the sequence of the virus, they used this to develop and validate in-house assays in advance of obtaining any commercial diagnostic kits. The NVRL played a vital role in the early detection of COVID-19 cases in Ireland, and began playing a vital role in the detection of new variants of COVID-19 in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health Service Executive ransomware attack</span> 2021 cyber attack on the Health Service Executive in Ireland

On 14 May 2021, the Health Service Executive (HSE) of Ireland suffered a major ransomware cyberattack which caused all of its IT systems nationwide to be shut down.

The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland in 2022.

Pobal is a state-sponsored organisation in Ireland with responsibility for administering and managing government and EU funding aimed at supporting social inclusion and addressing social disadvantage in the country. While the organisation is registered with the Charities Regulator, its charitable status was queried in 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Finn, Christina (28 March 2021). "Allegations of department gathering dossiers on children with autism 'extremely concerning', says Paul Reid". TheJournal.ie . Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Ryan, Conor. "Department of Health built secret dossiers on children with autism". RTÉ Investigates. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  3. Ryan, Conor (13 May 2021). "Autism dossiers could be UN Convention breach - Oireachtas Committee". RTÉ . Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  4. 1 2 McConnell, Daniel (4 May 2021). "Watt: No evidence of Department of Health dossiers on vulnerable children". Irish Examiner . Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Ryan, Conor (13 May 2021). "Autism dossiers explainer: The unanswered questions from reports". RTÉ . Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  6. "DPC launches inquiry into processing of personal data by the Department of Health". An Comisiún um Chosaint Sumarí -The Data Protection Commission. 2021-03-30. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  7. Ryan, Conor (30 March 2021). "Inquiry launched by DPC over dept dossiers on children with autism". RTÉ Investigates. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  8. 1 2 Ryan, Conor (2023-07-10). "Whistleblower welcomes data breach ruling against Dept of Health". RTÉ News . Retrieved 2023-07-13.