Organ retention inquiry may stop at three hospitals

A €20 million inquiry into the retention by hospitals of organs of dead children may never look beyond the three hospitals it took five years to investigate.

This was indicated yesterday by Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney, who said the report given to her by inquiry chairperson, barrister Anne Dunne, may contain enough information from its examination of just three hospitals to satisfy those seeking an inquiry.

“I don’t want to prejudge what will happen, but it may well be that we can draw conclusions from what happened here that doesn’t require us to investigate every single hospital.