Medical Council to investigate doctor

A DOCTOR who investigated cases of sexual abuse will be at the centre of a Medical Council inquiry.

Following three complaints made by parents who were accused of child sexual abuse, the Medical Council is to establish an inquiry into the professional conduct of consultant psychiatrist Dr Helen M Cummiskey.

Dr Cummiskey has a practice in Donnybrook, Co Dublin, and is also a member of the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

The Medical Council yesterday sent letters to the three complainants, saying it had decided there was "a prima facie case" for an inquiry into Dr Cummiskey's professional conduct, under the Medical Practitioners' Act 1978.

The travel expenses of the men involved will be paid by the Medical Council and they may be required to give sworn oral evidence. The complaints will be investigated by the council's fitness to practice committee. No date has been set for the start of the inquiry.

One of the complainants was accused of sexually abusing his son by his wife after their marriage broke down. Dr Cummiskey was the consultant psychiatrist who prepared a report on the custodial rights for the court.

The man said he was absolutely devastated by Dr Cummiskey's findings.

"She did not deal with any of the allegations she just left them hanging.

"She just made recommendations as to the amount of access I should have to the kids. It was quite limited I was looking for shared physical custody, which I didn't get."

His wife later made another allegation that he had sexually abused his daughter. He was cleared of all allegations by the report of another expert and now has joint custody of the children.

Dr Cummiskey did not reply to messages left on her phone yesterday.

The Medical Council had previously refused to investigate the complaints because of the in-camera rule, which restricts the proceedings of the family law courts to the parties involved.

It declined to comment about the inquiry when contacted yesterday.

In the only previous, and unconnected, case of this kind, Dr Moira Woods, the former head of the Sexual Abuse Trauma Unit at the Rotunda Hospital, was found guilty of professional misconduct by the Medical Council in January 2002.