Call for remembrance day for stillborn babies

The Department of Health must sign up to an international remembrance day for stillborn children, and establish a public register of the deaths if it wants to help families finally grieve over the "taboo" subject.

The call was made by Féileacáin, the stillbirth and neo-natal death association of Ireland, during the latest meeting of the Oireachtas health committee.

Speaking during a two- hour presentation to the cross-party group, people affected by the tragedies said files on the estimated 300- plus stillbirth deaths every year are “locked away” without any public access. They insisted the approach is endorsing a reluctance to discuss the issue publicly.