Leas Cross report to be published in coming weeks

The Tánaiste, Michael McDowell, has told the Dáil that the O'Neill Report into the Leas Cross nursing home controversy will be published in the next couple of weeks.

The report was commissioned by the Health Service Executive last year after a television documentary uncovered incidents of abuse at the north Dublin home.

It has been in the possession of the HSE and the Government for several months, but has remained unpublished pending legal advice.

Leaked sections of the document published in Village magazine today claim senior members of the health board knew of the abuses before they were exposed in the Prime Time documentary.

Asked about the matter in Dublin today, Health Minister Mary Harney said this would be extremely troubling.

"Certainly, it would not be satisfactory to me or the Government that complaints made three years ago were not acted upon by the appropriate authorities if that is the case," she said.

Speaking in the Dáil, meanwhile, Mr McDowell said it was untrue to say the Government was withholding the report and the document would be published in the coming weeks, once the HSE has resolved outstanding legal issues.