Unreasonable attitude in wake of tragedy

It gives me no pleasure to say this, but notwithstanding this horrific tragedy I find the attitude of Mr Halappanavar and that of his solicitor Gerard O’Donnell to be highly unreasonable.

On Tuesday morning, Mr O’Donnell indicated that they would not be co-operating with the investigation into Savita’s death on the grounds that it included three doctors from Galway University Hospital. That afternoon, the Taoiseach announced that these three doctors had been removed and would be replaced with doctors who were not connected to GUH. On Wednesday morning, Mr O’Donnell indicated that they would not be cooperating with the investigation in any event.

Having refused to engage with the independent chairman of the inquiry, they had no objection to engaging extensively with the media. Mr O’Donnell appeared on Morning Ireland on two consecutive mornings, and Mr Halappanavar has given lengthy interviews to The Irish Times and to RTE’s Prime Time.