Ireland collecting dossiers on autistic children

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A call has been made for an inquiry into the practice by the Department of Health of secretly gathering information from private doctor consultations to create dossiers on children with autism involved in legal actions against the State.

Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said the inquiry should be “similar in scope and duration to the Scally inquiry into the cervical cancer screening programme” and should investigate the roles of the Departments of Health and Education and the HSE.

Mr Doherty was speaking ahead of an RTÉ Investigates programme to be broadcast on Thursday following a protected disclosure last year about the dossiers which included medical and educational information of children involved in long-dormant court cases, gathered without the knowledge or consent of parents.

Detailed information came directly from confidential consultations that the children and their families had with doctors and other professionals, who the department instructed not to tell parents.

Mr Doherty said that what happened is “dishonest, totally unethical and possibly illegal and represents a monumental breach of trust”.

Raising the issue during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil the Donegal TD said this practice had been going on for at least a decade and “highlights an attitude of suspicion and contempt towards the families that is simply unjustifiable.

“This information on file in the department’s database includes detailed medical and personal information, which any right-thinking person would believe was covered by doctor-patient confidentiality.”

The Data Protection Commissioner has begun a statutory inquiry into the handling of sensitive personal information by the Department of Health.

The office has acted on its own initiative to set up the inquiry having already submitted questions to the department following a report by RTÉ Investigates last week.

A statement from DPC said the issue arose in relation to information on children diagnosed with autism who had been involved in legal actions against the State.

"The inquiry will examine whether or not the Department of Health has discharged its obligations in connection with the data processing concerned and it will determine whether or not any provisions of the Data Protection Acts and/or the GDPR have been contravened by the Department of Health in that context," it said.

Authorised officers of the DPC have been appointed to conduct the investigation.

Under the Data Protection Act, these authorised officers have the power to enter premises, search for, secure and inspect any documents if the investigation requires it.

The Secretary General of the Department of Health, Robert Watt, wrote an open letter following the report that it had not acted unlawfully.

nclusion Ireland, the national association for people with an intellectual disability, said the programme findings have "seriously damaged faith in the system among people with disabilities and their families".

Interim CEO of Inclusion Ireland Lorraine Dempsey said: "We know that 50 children are affected by this investigation, but every family who has interacted with State agencies or advocated on behalf of a child with a disability is now wondering if their information has been retained, or collated. Faith in the system has been seriously damaged by the revelations.

Families were unaware that what they disclosed to medical staff in order to get treatment and support for their child was being passed on to the department.

In one instance, evidence suggests that a detailed report was sent to the department following a psychiatric consultation with a child.

Another case involved the sharing of a video of a child in a distressed state. There were also updates from local care, community mental health and support services.

Hmm,



So, basically what this is, is an educated elite, health care providers and educators, colluding with the government to spy on and abuse the public.

In that case:
If I ran the world:
Every last health care provider and educator involved would be taken out and shot at dawn as a spy and collaborator and then the government officials involved would be taken out and shot between dinner and dessert. Or maybe we should skip dinner and have it be just desserts.