SENIOR civil servants could be questioned by police after Senator Stuart Syvret made a formal complaint about a number of them.

The sacked Health Minister wants police to investigate whether any current and former civil servants committed criminal offences by ‘attempting to pervert the course of justice’ by allegedly covering up child abuse.

Allegations that orphans at the former Blanche Pierre children’s home were beaten and had Dettol poured down their throats led the Senator to contact the police.

Senator Syvret said: ‘If I had to describe the key moment when I realised the full, horrifying futility of politics – it was at this moment.’

He said that he only became aware of the alleged abuses last year and demanded to see all files on Blanche Pierre, which was run by Alan and Jane Maguire during the 1980s.

‘I was reading files of extensive evidence which described years of the most foul abuse throughout the 1980s – and the civil service of the day, in a report from 1990, conceded that the conduct of the Maguire’s had been ”unacceptable” – but by way of mitigation it was a stressful job. ‘But – no problem: Mrs McGuire agreed to retire voluntarily from running the group home and would, instead, come and work in the Family Development Centre.’

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