Organs scandal parents 'betrayed by Govt'

Hundreds of parents of children who had their organs illegally removed by hospitals have been betrayed by the Government because it won’t set up a public inquiry into the scandal, it was claimed today.

Minister for Health Mary Harney confirmed to the Dáil this morning that she will shut down the Dunne Inquiry and set up a team to examine the evidence it gathered.

But the Parents for Justice group said they wouldn’t have co-operated with the Dunne Inquiry if they hadn’t received a Government guarantee that a statutory probe would be set up if it didn’t properly investigate the scandal.

The Dunne Inquiry, which was set up in 2000, has not yet produced a report and Ms Harney said today she will shut it down at the end of next month.

Parents for Justice chairperson Fionnuala O’Reilly, whose baby son Michael had his heart and lungs removed without her consent by a Dublin hospital in 1994, dubbed the move “a betrayal”.

“The Government has gone back on its work and this is a betrayal.

“A full statutory inquiry is the only way to get answers because it can compel witnesses and seize documents.

“Former minister Micheál Martin gave us that commitment in 2000 and that was the only reason we co-operated with Dunne.”

The Dunne Inquiry was set up in 2000 by former minister for health Martin to investigate the practice of hospitals retaining the organs of babies during hospital post mortems.

Parents for Justice, which represents over 900 affected families, withdrew its co-operation from the inquiry in October 2002 after it was dissatisfied with its work.

Raising the issue in the Dáil today, Labour deputy leader Liz McManus asked if the Government was going to honour its commitment to set up a statutory probe if the Dunne Inquiry failed.

But Ms Harney said: “What’s important here is that we assemble all the facts and I believe that that can be done without having a statutory inquiry.”

She said she hoped to have had a report from the Dunne Inquiry before the end of December but that wasn’t forthcoming.

However, the Government had now made a decision that the inquiry would be concluded at the end of March.

“If at that point we do not have a report, then it would be a matter for me and the Government to appoint an individual or individuals that can draw up a report into what happened as far as organs retention is concerned.

“I believe we can do that without the expense of a statutory inquiry.”