Martin to urge Dunne to meet deadline

The Minister for Health, Mr Martin will urge the chairwoman of the Dunne Inquiry this evening to complete her investigations by March next year.

The meeting with Ms Anne Dunne SC, was called last week. The Minister is seeking an update of the work of the inquiry over recent months and will also discuss revelations in recent weeks that six
pharmaceutical companies and 32 hospitals were involved in the removal of organs and glands during post mortems.

Novo Nordisk has admitted it received more than 7,000 pituitary glands from 32 hospitals for the manufacture of human growth hormone. Of the six firms understood to have been involved only two, Pharmacia Ireland and Novo-Nordisk, confirmed they received glands.

Parents of children whose organs were retained without their consent have criticised the Minister's handling of the three-and-a-half-year investigation.

Ms Fionnuala O'Reilly, the chairwoman of Parents for Justice said today the group's greatest fear was that the Dunne Inquiry would produce a flawed, incomplete report. She said it was difficult to see how the Inquiry could complete its work before March next year, given that it has missed so many deadlines to date.

The Government has decided it wants the Dunne Inquiry to complete its work by March 31st, 2005, after which "it will cease to exist".

The inquiry is due to publish a report on organ-retention in paediatric hospitals by the end of this year. This report was originally due in December last year, but this deadline was moved to Spring and then December 2004.

Ms O'Reilly said the €15 million inquiry had sat for over three and a half years, gathered 150,000 pages of documents and produced no conclusions.

"It is difficult to see how it will be able to complete its work [by the March 2005 deadline]. It was to report on paediatric hospitals, investigate maternity hospitals and also produce a separate study of activity in the remaining hospitals. None have been competed. The interim report dealt only with the mechanics of the inquiry", she said.

Parents for Justice have repeatedly called for the inquiry to be established on a statutory basis and therefore would not depend on the voluntary co-operation of hospitals. The group withdrew its co-operation from the inquiry in December 2002 over the Minister's decision not to place the inquiry on a statutory footing.

The group has now decided to bring High Court cases against the Minister essentially suing for breach of contract. Parents for Justice contend that Mr Martin created a reasonable and legitimate expectation for a statutory inquiry.

The meeting is due to take place at 5 p.m. and last for one hour.

A national helpline set up by the Department of Health to assist families with questions surrounding organ-retention remains open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday on 1800-45 45 00. More than 350 calls have been made since it was set up last month, although the rate of calls has tapered off.