Parents denied access to post-mortem files
Dozens of appeals are with the Information Commissioner who is due to rule by the end of this month on whether the hospitals and health boards involved acted correctly.
Parents for Justice spokeswoman Fionnuala O'Reilly said every hospital and health board identified as having an involvement in the controversy had been asked to make disclosures and there had been refusals across the board. "Our legal advice is that they were obliged to give out this information and we can not understand how they can keep it secret," she said.
The Department of Health last night announced it was setting up a national telephone helpline to deal with queries in the wake of a week of disturbing revelations about the unauthorised sale and supply of pituitary glands to pharmaceutical companies.
Many hospitals and health boards have already set up internal helplines to deal with questions but the national helpline, to run from Monday at 9am, will operate on a separate number, freefone 1800-454500.
In a statement, however, the department warned that all queries would be passed on to the individual hospitals and health authorities.
"Information will be dependent on the availability of hospital records," the statement said.
Parents for Justice dismissed the department's response and accused Health Minister Micheál Martin of failing to respond in any meaningful way to this week's fresh revelations.
Ms O'Reilly said members felt duped by ministerial promises that the Dunne Inquiry on Post Mortem Practices would be put on a statutory footing if it failed to make progress in its investigations.
"After three-and-a-half years of secrecy, in a week when we have learned more from media revelations than we ever have from the Dunne Inquiry, that time is long past," she said.
The department said afterwards it was very conscious of parents' need to have the fullest possible information on post mortem issues but repeated its statement that the Dunne Inquiry was expected to report by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, a statement from James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown, Dublin, yesterday made it the 20th hospital to confirm its involvement in the practice.
