Parents want to meet cardinal over organ scandal

CARDINAL Desmond Connell is under pressure from parents at the centre of the organ retention scandal over his failure to respond to their request to meet them.

Early in October Parents for Justice (PFJ) wrote to the Dublin archbishop in his role as chairperson of the committee of management at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin.

A spokesperson for PFJ said the archbishop had not even acknowledged the request made by their chairperson, Charlotte Yates, to meet him to discuss one of the major health scandals in the history of the State.

The support group represents 800 families who discovered their deceased children’s organs werehad been removed and disposed of without their knowledge or consent.

The PFJ spokesperson said the cardinal, as a cleric who was also involved in the running of a major hospital, was duty-bound to meet the people directly affected by the scandal.

A spokesperson for the cardinal said it had always been his policy to acknowledge such letters to see how best the concerns could be addressed. Unfortunately, he said, Cardinal Connell had no record of the letter referred to and asked PFJ to send a copy.

The PFJ spokesperson said that if the cardinal has mislaid the letter they would fax him a copy to his office immediately to get a speedy response.

Meanwhile, PFJ has met with its legal team to explore new legal options in its fight to secure a statutory inquiry into the scandal.

They want the Dunne Organ Retention Inquiry scrapped and replaced with one that has powers to seek documents and compel witnesses to appear before it.

Fionnuala O’Reilly, one of four mothers who founded PFJ in 1999, said the Government ultimately had the power to provide a satisfactory conclusion to their campaign for a full statutory inquiry.

In early October PFJ walked away from the Dunne Inquiry and at their EGM the following month members agreed to ask the inquiry to return all personal documents submitted to date.

Fifteen families directly affected by the organ retention scandal have handed over files to gardaí for criminal investigation. More are expected to go the same route.

More than 60 families are also seeking damages from hospitals and health boards for removing organs from deceased relatives without their knowledge or consent.

PFJ members will be updated on the campaign at a meeting on Saturday, January 25 in the Munster Hotel, Thurles, Co Tipperary.