A former Irish Prison Service (IPS) psychologist, who allegedly sexually abused a career criminal during therapy sessions, is now working for the HSE.
It has also emerged that the HSE employed the woman from October 2022 despite requesting and being denied a work reference by the IPS.
The understands the health service was not aware that the female psychologist was facing sex abuse allegations when she was offered the position.
The HSE was first informed about the alleged abuse in April of this year, some 19 months after the psychologist was employed by the service.
It is understood that the psychologist remains employed by the service.
The psychologist is alleged to have abused 58-year-old convicted tiger kidnapper Paschal Kelly during one-on-one counselling sessions carried out over an 18-month period up to August 2022.
The allegations are currently the subject of both a civil action and a garda investigation.
The High Court case alleges the abuse continued until another employee of the prison observed the psychologist and prisoner engaged in a sexual act.
Soon after the allegations came to light, Kelly was transferred from Wheatfield Prison to Cork for a brief period. The psychologist tendered her resignation from the IPS the following month, September 2022.
A month following the psychologist’s resignation from the prison service, the HSE contacted the IPS seeking an employment reference for her.
Recent correspondence between the principal psychologist for the IPS, Sarah Hume, and Kelly shows no reference was given.
Ms Hume had been interacting with Kelly in her role as head psychologist for the IPS since his transfer to Cork Prison.
In July 2024, she informed Kelly that “whilst the IPS confirmed her dates of employment, no reference for [the psychologist] was provided”.
After informing Kelly about the reference request, Ms Hume told him that she was no longer “in a position to engage in further discussion or correspondence with you in respect of these matters” on foot of “legal advice now received”.
Previously, Ms Hume informed Kelly that she had contacted the HSE’s principal specialist psychologist, Caroline O’Connor, in June 2024, and told her about his complaint of alleged sexual abuse, and that a Garda investigation was ongoing.
A spokesperson for the IPS said: “The Irish Prison Service does not comment on matters relating to individual staff members.”
A HSE spokesperson said it is “not in a position to comment on the recruitment process in respect of any applicant, successful or unsuccessful”.
“The HSE has a full and comprehensive recruitment process in place for all candidates from application, including reference checks and Garda vetting,” they added.
