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A social worker who made protected disclosures about alleged abuse of a woman with an intellectual disability in a reception center has filed a High Court action to prevent her dismissal.
Claire Looney wants orders preventing her dismissal from her position as head of clinical services with an association that works with people with intellectual disabilities in the Southeast.
The process is against his employer, Waterford Intellectual Disabilities Association (WIDA), funded by HSE.
The court heard that Ms. Looney, after a two-year suspension, was fired late last month by her employer as a result of what her attorneys claimed was an “extremely flawed” process.
She denies wrongdoing and claims that the HSE has sanctioned her as a result of the disclosures she made. On Monday, Frank Callanan SC, for Ms Looney, said that what happened to her had a chilling effect on anyone making statements on issues related to caring for people with intellectual disabilities.
Ms. Looney, a qualified social worker, said she made protected disclosures in 2009 to the Department of Health, HSE, and the Dáil Public Accounts Committee regarding the care of a woman, who became known as “Grace,” as well as others put in the same care location. Those allegations led to the establishment of the Farrelly Commission, which became operational in May 2017, to investigate allegations related to the alleged physical and sexual abuse of “Grace” and others. Grace was placed with the foster family in 1989 and remained in the home until 2009, despite a 1995 decision by the Southeast Health Board (SEHB) to stop using the family for placements and to withdraw other vulnerable youth.
Ms Looney says she was accused of filing a complaint about WIDA with Hiqa (Health and Quality Inspection Authority) that resulted in an inspection of her employer. She says she did not make any complaints to Hiqa. She was suspended from her job in 2018 and despite having been exonerated from the charge regarding Hiqa, she was informed in August that she would be removed from her post. That decision was upheld in an appeal last November. The lawyer said that the terms of reference in relation to the investigation of the accusation against her client changed and that led to new accusations being made against her. This made the whole process “totally flawed,” he said.
WIDA had initially supported her when she attended the Farrelly Commission, but later informed her that she would not pay her salary while she attended the hearings.
Judge Leonie Reynolds granted Mr. Callanan’s ex parte request for permission to notify his employers of the process on short notice and returned the matter in mid-January. She ordered the defendant to provide an affidavit in response to Ms. Looney’s claims prior to that date.
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