Lawyer to review Leas Cross documentation

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney is to appoint a senior legal adviser to review documentation relating to Leas Cross nursing home and interview relatives of former residents.

The minister decided to secure a senior counsel after meeting relatives of former residents of the north Dublin home for the first time yesterday. The relatives have formed a campaign group that is pushing for a full public inquiry.

The Leas Cross Death Relatives Action Group, which has 23 families in its organisation, presented Ms Harney with a book of questions raised by relatives.

The lawyer is to consider the questions and outline the steps that need to be taken to get answers. It is understood, however, Ms Harney advised the group that a public inquiry would be a long, exhaustive and very expensive process that might not necessarily get the answers they wanted.

The campaign group was formed after a Health Service Executive-commissioned report published last month catalogued a litany of bad practice culminating in a finding of institutional abuse.

Chairperson of the group, Tony Mullins, whose 82-year-old mother, Kitty, died at the home in February 2004, described their meeting with Ms Harney as “very constructive”. He said members had felt that they had got a very sympathetic hearing.

The north Co Dublin home was shut down in August last year after an RTÉ undercover investigation revealed sub-standard care and management deficiencies.

The group are particularly anxious to know how the nursing home was financed, details of its corporate structure and whether Beaumont Hospital in Dublin had raised concerns about the frequent referral of residents.

They are also anxious to know the circumstances behind the transfer of a considerable number of patients from a large psychiatric hospital, St Ita’s in Portrane, to the nursing home.

Mr Mullins said the minister had shown great courage in attempting to reform the health service and they wanted to support her.

The campaign group is now hoping more relatives will come forward to help them make their case for a public inquiry.

The group’s contact number is 086-2633201 and their web address is [e-mail].