Organ retention probe ‘going nowhere’

FAMILIES intent on halting the organ retention inquiry say their concerns about it have been justified by a progress report on the investigation.

Parents for Justice (PFJ) wants the probe scrapped and replaced by one with powers to force hospitals to co-operate.

In her report, inquiry chairperson Anne Dunne refers to difficulties in getting hospitals to respond to requests for information.

PFJ is the support group for more than 800 families who discovered their deceased children’s organs were

removed and retained by hospitals without their consent.

PFJ spokesperson Fionnuala O’Reilly said the families were deeply troubled about the attitude taken by the hospitals involved.

She said: “Having read the report we feel vindicated in the stance we have taken. The investigation is going on and on and going nowhere. Ms Dunne admitted the inquiry was in the hands of those supplying the

information.

Ms Dunne wrote that a number of hospitals had raised legal issues in relation to their co-operation with the inquiry and had sought to rely on the Abbeylara decision to delay any such co-operation.

Health Minister Micheál Martin has agreed to meet PFJ representatives tomorrow PFJ will tell him how disappointed they felt when then learned last Friday night that Ms Dunne’s report had been posted on the Department of Health website on Wednesday.

PFJ had requested a copy of the report under the Freedom of Information Act. A department official told them on Wednesday that their request had been granted and a copy would be posted to them.

The official did not mention the report was already available to people with internet access PFJ will also urge the minister to replace the inquiry with one that has powers to demand co-operation and disclosure of documents.

Ms O’Reilly said she did not want to appear to be underestimating the work hospitals had to do to provide the inquiry with a response.

She said: “The work of the inquiry’s legal team has been magnificent. It has already considered 150,000 pages of documentation. It is the framework within which it is operating that is the problem.”

PFJ were advised by their legal team that it would be 2004 at the earliest before the inquiry would be in a position to complete its report on the first phase of its inquiry.

When the group met Mr Martin on October 16 he described their timeframe as conservative.