Parents for Justice angered by Dunne comments

The Parents for Justice group has reacted angrily to comments by the head of the Dunne Inquiry that its withdrawal will not seriously affect the investigation.

Ms Anne Dunne SC, said in a letter to the Department of Health it was "regrettable" the group was no longer co-operating with her inquiry into the retention of children's organs but that the move did not mean the body's work would halt.

Ms Dunne said she has received 407 submissions since the inquiry was establised in March 2000, at least a third of these from families who are not members of Parents for Justice (PFJ).

But PFJ spokeswoman, Ms Fionnuala O'Reilly, argued today that the chairwoman's comments were "gratuitously offensive" and called for her to retract them. "We want to know what prompted these comments," she said, adding that the group was "very taken aback" by the tone of the letter.

PFJ withdrew its participation with the inquiry last October, demanding that a statutory inquiry be established into the scandal. Such an inquiry would have powers to compel witnesses to attend and to make orders for the discovery of documents.

They want either the current private inquiry be granted statutory powers or a second stage, involving a statutory investigation, be instigated.

Ms O'Reilly said her group was very concerned Ms Dunne considers the inquiry can continue without its co-operation, and also that she would dispute the numbers of people PFJ represents.

Ms O'Reilly told ireland.comthat PFJ represents 2,000 people, including 887 parents and over 1,000 siblings of children whose organs were retained.

She said that since November, PFJ has been contacted by 27 new families and the group's membership was growing steadily. She was confident that more families would come forward over the coming months as the group is unveiling an awareness campaign throughout the State.

"We believe that the families we represent are only the tip of the iceberg," Ms O'Reilly said. "Every family who has had a post-mortem performed on a child could potentially be affected by this scandal".

To date, 50 notices asking for documents to be returned to families have been submitted by PFJ to the inquiry. Another 50 were due shortly, Ms O'Reilly said, followed by a similar number in the near future.

Sources say the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, is willing to meet Parents for Justice over their concerns at the inquiry. It is understood he has been told by Ms Dunne that her report will be ready by December this year.