A woman raped more than 1,000 times by her evil foster father said an apology to her by the Child and Family Agency Tusla yesterday “fixes nothing”.
Kelly Kemmy accused Tusla of only apologising to her “because I went public with my story”.
The 24-year-old waived her right to anonymity on Friday after twisted Stephen Murray was jailed for raping her over a seven-year period while she was in his care.
Vile Murray, 56, from Humphreystown, Vallymount in Co Wicklow, was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court to 11 years.
He had pleaded guilty to 14 charges of rape, two of oral rape and one of sexual assault between February 2009 and December 2015.
Tusla chief Bernard Gloster yesterday publicly apologised to Ms Kemmy for the treatment she received while under their care.
The apology came after Ms Kemmy claimed in the Sunday Mirror that no one in the agency had contacted her to say sorry for the alleged failures.
However, speaking on RTE’s This Week Show on Radio One, Mr Gloster said the Child and Family Agency “offer her a very sincere apology”.
He added: “We are dreadfully, dreadfully sorry that this happened to her in the care of the State.
“When she was most entitled to expect to feel most safe, and the person she should have been able to rely on most, committed what Mr Justice McDermott quite rightly, said committed the most egregious acts, sustained over a very long period of time.
“I think an apology is never going to be enough, it doesn’t go far enough, but we will have the rest of our discussions with Kelly in private.
“Our team and our staff have engaged with her and will continue to do so, in as much as she determines what’s the best level of support that we can offer her.
“This is an enormous let down and breach of trust, in a foster care system of over 4,000 foster carers where every day foster carers do important work with children.
“And despite the fact that safeguarding systems have improved over the years, it shows us what the sheer vulnerability when people are in any type of a care setting.
“Relying on the integrity of the care giver is the ultimate test of the care system.
“In this case, unfortunately in a very hidden and secret way over several years, the most serious acts of abuse were committed.
“And we have to firstly acknowledge Kelly’s bravery and courage in seeing through that complaint and also her determination not to let this define the rest of her life.
“But for today it has to be an unequivocal apology and I’m very happy to offer that to her, recognising that can’t be enough.”
He revealed that an internal review is underway and that will be shared and discussed with Ms Kemmy privately.
He added: “If somebody is minded to commit those kinds of abuse in a power relationship they can do that for a period of time.”
Ms Kemmy reacted to Tusla’s apology saying she believes it was “only made because of the publicity my story has received”.
She told the Irish Mirror: “Tusla knew I was being raped in care three years ago. I left the Murray house with my sister and brother in 2019 and went straight to the gardai.
“They have known all this time and never apologised to me, not that it would make any difference.
“The apology doesn’t fix anything; the damage is done.
“I honestly think it took headlines to make them speak and say sorry because they said nothing before now.
“If I hadn’t lifted my name, they would not have done it.
“I feel like they had to apologise they had no choice.
“They have no defence for what happened to me. I was in their care.
“It is nice to see them put their hands up, of course, but it fixes nothing.
“They can’t defend what happened to me.” She also revealed she is working with a “supportive” Tusla social worker since she reported the case to gardai.
Yesterday Ms Kemmy told the Irish Mirror that Tusla had “destroyed” her life after she repeatedly raised concerns with social workers about the behaviour of her alcoholic foster father Murray.
She said “They never listened to me and my siblings.
“We told them what Stephen was like, he was an abusive alcoholic, but he always had the final say with social workers.
“The turnover of social workers was terrible, we had loads and loads of them, I couldn’t tell you how many. There was no continuity.
“It was just hassle for them to find us a new family so they left us there.
“We were blamed for Stephen’s behaviour and we were accused of pushing his buttons.
“There is no voice of the child in this country and we were not put first, he was.”
She is also calling for mandatory life sentences for rapists.
Ms Kemmy added: “I’m happy with the sentence, but I believe all rapists should be jailed for life. It should be mandatory.”
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