Hiqa board considers request for Savita inquiry

Also in the Dáil today, Mr Kelleher and Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghin O Caolain urged the Taoiseach to personally intervene and make contact with Praveen Halappanavar.

Ms Burton said the issue was about the safety and care of women so the episode, or some tragic happening like it, did not occur again.

“It is the duty of the HSE to find out and see, in relation to that hospital, if there were unsafe practices and that they would be amended and strengthened so that women could be assured that their safety and care is the primary consideration,’’ she added.

Labour Senator Ivan Bacik today said there was a "great deal of disquiet" among her party colleagues about the way the "inquiry has been handled" and the lack of trust which had arisen as the inquiry unfolded.

It was "very hard to see how inquiry can continue" without the cooperation of the family, she told Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio.

Mr Higgins' comments were "very diplomatically framed" and "timely", she said.

Minister for Health James Reilly conceded yesterday the HSE investigation could lack a "completeness of information" if Mr Halappanavar maintains his refusal to co-operate.

Mr Halappanavar said on Prime Time last night, during which he repeated his lack of confidence in the HSE to carry out any investigation into his wife’s death.

"These people are salaried by the HSE," he said. "They pay them. We think that there would be some kind of bias during the investigation."

He said he and his wife were told by medical staff a termination on medical grounds was not possible as a foetal heartbeat was present and due to Ireland being a "Catholic country".

"We just can't believe that in the 21st century."

Ms Halappanavar died from septicaemia in University Hospital Galway last month. She had been 17 weeks pregnant and her husband says she repeatedly asked for a termination but was refused because a foetal heartbeat was present.

Mr Higgins said the investigation into Ms Halappanavar's death must ensure "above all else" that women will be safer and get the medical services during pregnancy to which they are entitled. He was responding to questions from local journalists during an official visit to Liverpool and Manchester.