A Dáil committee is to write to Enda Kenny's Department outlining its concern at an alleged cover-up of sexual abuse at the home of a foster-family in the south-east.

It's after the Public Accounts Committee was told of how 46 children with intellectual disabilities were allegedly abused at the home over 29 years.

A whistleblower has given TDs excerpts from a 200-page internal HSE report, the release of which was at the centre of a protracted battle between the whistleblower and the HSE.

The report has since been cleared for publication after a ruling from the Information Commissioner, and the HSE says it is preparing to publish it subject to legal advice. However, its existence was not widely known until the details were sent to PAC members just before Christmas.

The report outlines how the foster home accepted children with severe intellectual disabilities between 1983 and 1995, when the former South-Eastern Health Board stopped placing children in its care.

However the first allegations of abuse were raised with the Health Board in 1992, three years before admissions - and it is reported that due to a major clerical oversight, one resident with severe disabilities was left in its care until 2009.

The HSE says it's apologised to the victims - a claim which has been denied by the families.

Today the PAC agreed to send the details to the Department of the Taoiseach, and to the Garda Commissioner, with chairman John McGuinness saying he was frustrated at the slow pace of investigation.