A JUDGE HAS slammed a care home for vulnerable children which used “altered” Garda staff vetting and fake background checks as being “at the high water mark of criminality”.

Ideal Care Services was fined €3,000 and must pay €2,000 in costs.

Its director, Karen Akwuobi, a qualified psychologist with a master’s degree in human resource management, was handed a six-month suspended sentence.

They admitted failing to satisfy Tusla, the State’s child and family agency (CFA), that care home staff numbers, experience and qualifications were adequate.

Children in homes in Carlow and Dublin 10 were exposed to “a high level of risk” due to the defendants’ failings and “fundamental misleadings”, Dublin District Court heard.

Tusla brought the prosecution under the Child Care (Standards in Children’s Residential Centres) regulations and the Child Care Act.

Judge Anthony Halpin noted from the agency’s barrister Morgan Shelly, instructed by solicitor Arthur Denneny, that this was the first case to be brought under these laws.

Finalising the case today, he condemned the accused, saying: “Having heard the facts in this case, I must say that the behaviour, conduct and management of the childcare facility and the defendants, in particular, were not only inadequate but it exposed vulnerable children to huge potential dangers.”

He noted the evidence of CFA witness Michael McGuigan, who voiced his “extreme concern” about the staffing procedures at Ideal Care facilities in Co Carlow and Dublin 10, which were inspected in 2023.

“The unscrupulous falsification of documents, including the altering of garda vetting documents, places this offence at the high water mark of criminality,” Judge Halpin said.

The court heard that Akwuobi, of Mount Garrett Rise, Tyrelstown, D15, was a psychologist and a psychotherapist, and she had further qualifications – a master’s degree in human resource management and a primary degree in financial accounting.

“These specialisms equipped the defendant in carrying out the tasks of selection and recruitment of suitably qualified people to work in this particular area,” Judge Halpin said.

“She has failed in this regard. The failure is such that this court has no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence.”

He stated that was not surprising due to the aggravating factors; however, given the guilty plea, testimonials and character evidence, he suspended the sentence on condition she did not reoffend within the next two years.

Defence counsel Henry Kelly asked the judge to note the guilty pleas and acceptance of responsibility by the company and Akwuobi, who did not give evidence.

Staff later passed garda vetting, he said.

Kelly said a previous administrator in the company had provided the documentation and is no longer in the jurisdiction. Counsel said the outcome of the case would impact her career.

McGuigan, a CFA alternative care inspection and monitoring service manager in Tusla, told the court he had never seen anything like it before, and it placed children needing special emergency care placements at “significant risk”.

Tusla asked for records about the Carlow care home, and McGuigan visited the service provider’s office in March 2023 to review personnel files.

He agreed with Shelly that there was an immediate concern about the authenticity of the information supplied. The same or similar wording was used in several references purportedly written by different people from various organisations.

Five references from separate companies used the identical phrase, “a good legal understanding of the ethical and legal requirements of care” for four employees.

The references did not refer to them by name but simply as “the candidate”. Signatures on the back of each were digital rather than original signatures, which was the usual practice, and did not match the supposed referee.

McGuigan suspected Garda vetting documents, including reference numbers and dates, had been altered.

He checked some of the references to see if they were genuine.

One staff member had a reference from a Limerick company, but its HR department had no record of that person having ever worked there.

Two care workers had references from the Peter McVerry Trust, who said they had never employed them. The referee’s name was also misspelt.

Two references from another organisation had the wrong contact number. One organisation confirmed the person had worked there, but the signature was also misspelt, and that firm did not provide care services.

A supermarket chain knew of one person named but told Tusla they had not provided the reference, which was fabricated.

The defendants had no previous convictions.

McGuigan also investigated the centre in Dublin 10.

A review of personnel files there revealed similar problems.

Staff in the centres were permitted to work directly with young people despite not having police clearances on file from other jurisdictions; names on records were often illegible, and historical instead of current garda vetting was used.

False vetting documents had been placed in the files of some staff members who had actually been cleared.

The Garda National Vetting Bureau confirmed the falsification of the documentation, including inconsistent fonts and serial numbers.

The provider looked after eight to ten children, but the case was concerned with the care of two or three children in the two centres.

McGuigan agreed that the vetting procedures were “fundamentally misleading” and could expose vulnerable children to a high level of risk.

The company also admitted to submitting false, misleading, or falsified background checks to the child and family agency.

They included documents about staff members, such as “altered” Garda vetting, false staff references, and falsified records of reference checks.

Ideal Care Services also pleaded guilty to failings to satisfy the agency that appropriate pre-employment suitability checks were conducted.

Ideal Care Services, had an address at the Base Enterprise Centre, Ladyswell Road, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15, but “is no longer trading”, the court heard.

The full facts also applied to Akwuobi although she faced a single charge, the court heard.