<p>
	Gardai and the HSE are investigating the physical and sexual abuse of 20 children from one extended family.</p>
<p>
	The Irish Independent can reveal that one of the largest child-abuse investigations in recent years has been ongoing for more than a year.</p>
<p>
	Gardai and HSE officials obtained emergency care orders to remove the children, ranging in age from toddlers up to 14, from three closely-related families who live near each other in the northeast of the country.</p>
<p>
	It is understood that the alarm was raised when a child confided her abuse to a schoolteacher and the gardai were called. When gardai and care workers moved to take the children, their parents tried to hide them in nearby fields.</p>
<p>
	Officers were forced to coax some of them down out of trees in what one source described as &quot;heartbreaking&quot; scenes.</p>
<p>
	HEARTBREAKING</p>
<p>
	A major multi-agency investigation involving gardai and various HSE agencies has been continuing for over a year, as the children have revealed more details of what happened to them. The children are now all in foster care.</p>
<p>
	The Irish Independent can reveal that gardai and the HSE are compiling evidence on scores of offences, including physical abuse, sexual assault and rape.</p>
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	The first files from the investigation are to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a decision on whether members of the families concerned should face criminal charges.</p>
<p>
	In one case, young children have alleged that they were forced by their fathers and uncles to engage in bare-knuckle boxing with each other. They were also subjected to regular beatings by the men.</p>
<p>
	One of the children, who revealed that he had been abused by adult relatives, then went on to abuse one of his younger cousins. Another young girl revealed that she had been regularly abused by her father until she reached puberty.</p>
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	BEATINGS</p>
<p>
	A source with knowledge of the inquiry said: &quot;This is a very sensitive and disturbing case and probably one of the biggest of its type in recent times.</p>
<p>
	&quot;The extent of the revelations given so far is staggering and horrific. This was systematic child abuse on a frightening scale.&quot;</p>
<p>
	The Irish Independent understands that the parents of the children unsuccessfully challenged the emergency care orders before a special court sitting last year.</p>
<p>
	The courts have since granted the HSE a full care order, allowing the children to be committed to the care of the agency on a permanent basis while the investigation continues.</p>
<p>
	In a separate development, gardai are investigating criminal damage to a car belonging to one of the care workers involved in the case. Gardai suspect there is a link between the incident and the investigation.</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/hse-gardai-investigate-abuse-of-20-children-in-one-family-30243987.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/hse-gardai-investigate-abuse-of-20-children-in-one-family-30243987.html</a></p>
