June deadline for deaths of children in care files

THE HSE has been given a deadline of late June to provide all details of children who have died in care in the past decade.

The Government yesterday said it will draft emergency legislation that would force the HSE to hand over files on the deaths of children in care to a new expert panel charged with investigating those deaths.

The announcement by the Taoiseach Brian Cowen could bring an end to the stand-off between the Office of the Minister for Children and the HSE over the transfer of the files.