Galway disability test results prove inaccurate

52 people in Galway who have been tested to find out if they were at risk of having a child with a form of intellectual disability have been told that they may have to repeat the procedure.

It has emerged they may have received inaccurate results from the Diagnostic Testing Centre at NUI Galway, and will have to be retested at Our Ladies Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin.

The patients were genetically tested for 'Fragile X', a syndrome which can cause autism. The procedure has now been suspended at the Diagnostic Testing Centre after a patient tested in Galway and given the all-clear subsequently received abnormal results from a test in Crumlin.

This development could have very serious consequences for NUIG as one of the 52 is currently pregnant and some of the others may have already had children. Testing started there in 1994.