Surely it’s now time to call in the Gardaí

To tell you the truth, I’ve grown very, very weary of State apologies, the value of which is drastically reduced by virtue of frequency alone.

For the last 20 years or so we’ve heard heartfelt ‘mea culpas’ for the hepatitis scandal, for one medical disaster after another, for the cervical cancer outrage … and on and on…

Add in the apologies from the Catholic Church for a litany of grotesque and wicked sexual and physical abuse of defenceless children and, you’ll agree, we’ve reached apology overload, a point where words hardly carry real meaning any longer.

Don’t get me wrong; apologies are still important, mainly for the victims, their families and friends who have suffered as a consequence of State and institutional failures.

But when I see HSE bosses, Ministers of Government, even the Taoiseach, expressing apologies I genuinely wonder has it all become a little too scripted and formulaic.

Because to my way of thinking – and relying on the old Catechism principle – there’s no point in saying sorry unless it is accompanied by a firm resolution to amend.

Forgiveness requires that the culprit changes behaviour. Otherwise the whole thing is a tasteless joke.

Further, there is no point in the guilty promising a change of behaviour unless there is real accountability for what was done wrong in the first place. Without accountability, an apology is entirely empty of substance.

They were falling over one another last week in apologising for the unspeakable damage done to children and young adults by the HSE’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in North Kerry.A report into the service found that over 200 young people were exposed to harm solely as a result of their interaction with the service.

How utterly shocking is that?

Children and young people who reached out for help were harmed instead as a result of appalling medical practices that included the wrong, excessive and uncontrolled use of medication, giving without consent and with any effective governance.

It all amounts to the most egregious dereliction of duty of care, of decency, of respect and of medical professionalism on the part of the CAMHS, HSE and the State.

Of course, this report on North Kerry CAMHS comes four years after a similar devastating report into South Kerry CAMHS.

That South Kerry report by Dr Sean Maskey found that 46 children had been significantly harmed, with treatment given to 240 other children described as risky.

The whole thing, from what we now know, is a complete outrage. And this outrage will not be resolved by apologies alone, or even by the provision of a reformed service of the very best standard.

What’s needed now is accountability. We need to know who, EXACTLY, is responsible for this massive and cruel treatment of children and young people here in Kerry.

We are entitled to know who the medical practitioner or practitioners were who caused all this suffering to children and their families.

We need to know who the managers were – names and titles – who failed to provide any, or any adequate control and governance of CAMHS in Kerry during the relevant periods.

We need to know where those people are now, whether they are retired or working elsewhere?

And we need to know if the manifest failures in the CAMHS service in Kerry potentially amounted to breaches of the criminal law, including for instance whether children and young adults were victims of assault, including assault causing harm.

Which is why the HSE – and if they don’t act, the Government – must call in the gardaí to investigate this particular aspect of the CAMHS scandal. Considering the gravity of what was done here in Kerry, it is entirely appropriate to consider whether criminal sanctions should form part of a credible response.

It’s called justice.

However, I wouldn’t recommend we hold our breaths in anticipation of criminal accountability on this occasion, as in respect of previous health scandals.

Sadly, this may help explain why such a scandal might have occurred in the first place, and why it will almost certainly happen again.