Parents urged to boycott organ retention inquiry

PARENTS for Justice is urging its members to boycott the State’s latest inquiry into the retention and use of dead children’s organs.

The campaign group believes it has been “shafted” by Health Minister Mary Harney and that “Government-facilitated concealment” of the scandal continues.

The group, which represents over 920 families, is angry it was not properly consulted by the Department of Health about the terms of reference for Dr Deirdre Madden’s inquiry into post-mortem practice and organ retention.

Spokesperson for the group, Charlotte Yeates, said they only knew about the Government’s agreement on the terms of reference when a journalist contacted them on Thursday.

“It would appear that openness and transparency for the Government equates to concealment of issues of public importance,” she said.

Parents for Justice wants to meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, as it feels both Ms Harney and the Progressive Democrats are intent on “getting shut” of the inquiry.

The group, which withdrew from the Dunne Inquiry in 2002, citing lack of confidence in its work, had described Dr Madden’s appointment last May as a positive development but it remained cautious.

Ms Yeates said the terms of reference for the new inquiry were too restrictive in confining it to just three hospitals and to deceased children under 12 years.

While two-thirds of the families they represent had children under 12 years who had organs removed, a substantial number were children over that age.

Ms Harney had said the December deadline for Dr Madden’s report made it necessary to confine the work of the inquiry to cases involving deceased children under 12 years. She also said she was confident Dr Madden’s report would be a “thorough examination” of the relevant issues.

The new inquiry will analyse the €13 million report from the five-year Dunne inquiry reviewing post-mortem practices since 1970. Ms Harney said the report, delivered to her office last March, consisted of 3,457 pages and could not be published in its present form. The campaign group said it would continue its court challenge in the autumn for the release of information from hospitals.

“Parents are no closer to finding out what happened to their children or their loved ones and this is not fair,” Ms Yeates said.