Guarded welcome for plan to complete report

Evelyn Ring

Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney told Parents for Justice (PFJ) that she is to appoint barrister Dr Deirdre Madden to complete a final report on post mortem practice by December 21 this year.

The Tánaiste also asked PFJ, which represents 922 families, to support the work of Dr Madden.

The campaign group, which withdrew from the Dunne Inquiry in 2002 citing lack of confidence in its work, described Dr Madden’s appointment as a “positive development.”

PFJ spokesperson Fionnuala O’Reilly, whose son’s heart and lungs were removed in the 1990s, said that while they welcomed the appointment of Dr Madden, they remained cautious.

“We’ve already been down the road of a failed inquiry. [Yesterday’s] news is a positive development but we will wait until the terms of reference are worked out,” she said.

“We are glad that the State has finally acknowledged the pain of our members and has undertaken to establish an investigative process that will be capable of yielding some answers,” she added.

Ms Harney also revealed that the 13 million report from the five-year Dunne Inquiry reviewing post mortem practices since 1970 consisted of 3,457 pages and could not be published in its present form.

She explained that her decision not to publish the Dunne report was based on legal advice from Attorney General Rory Brady.

“It is now necessary to appoint a relevant expert to examine the key points and findings raised in it in order to provide Government with a final report on post mortem policy and practice by the end of year,” she said.

Some of Dr Madden’s work will be carried out in public and she is to have discussions with PFJ and other relevant parties at an early date.

Dr Madden, a graduate of University College Cork, was appointed to the Medical Council last year to represent the public interest.

In 2000 she was appointed by former Health Minister Micheál Martin to the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction.

Ms Harney said Dr Madden would take up her new appointment immediately and, after examination of the documentation gathered by Ms Dunne to date, would agree terms of reference to provide a report for publication by year end.