The Minister for Health, Simon Harris, has granted a time extension to the Farrelly Commission, which is investigating certain matters relative to a disability service in the South East and related matters.
This follows an application made by the Commission’s Sole Member, Marjorie Farrelly, SC, for a twelve month extension to allow the Commission to complete its phase 1 investigations and submit its final report on this work.
The Commission is an independent statutory Commission of Investigation. It commenced its investigations in May 2017 and its work is ongoing.
The first phase of the Commission’s work is to investigate the role of public authorities in the care and protection of a service user, Grace (pseudonym), who resided with a former foster family in the South East of Ireland between 1989 and 2009.
The Commission’s request for an extension is on the basis of the enormous volume of documentation disclosed to it from a wide range of public bodies, organisations and individuals and also issues relating to witnesses including identifying potential witnesses and the health of some witnesses.
The Commission believes that an extension of time by a further period of twelve months is consistent with the objective of having the investigations for the first phase of the its work conducted and the report submitted as expeditiously as a proper consideration of the matters permits.
The Commission has submitted a second interim report to the Minister. This report is available on the Department of Health’s website https://health.gov.ie/blog/publications/interim-report-of-the-farrelly-commission-of-investigation/
