Parents for Justice, the group campaigning about organ retention by hospitals, is considering withdrawing from the Dunne inquiry set up by the Minister for Health. This follows a meeting yesterday between the group and the inquiry's team of lawyers. Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent, reports
The inquiry chairwoman, Ms Anne Dunne SC, was not present at the meeting.
The inquiry had a deadline of September this year, but last June Ms Dunne told The Irish Times that this deadline would not be met and said her report would not be ready "for some considerable time". Parents for Justice has been concerned about the delay.
Ms Fionnuala O'Reilly, spokeswoman for PFJ, said they were concerned that no deadlines had been agreed, and it was not known what sanctions, if any, would be imposed on those who had not responded to the inquiry.
They were heartened to hear there had been a good level of co-operation, but this was not 100 per cent.
They were also concerned about a confidentiality undertaking that all those dealing with the inquiry were required to sign. Some of their members had not signed it, and the group was concerned that they would be excluded from its work.
Ms O'Reilly said the committee was now seeking legal advice about the implications of withdrawing co-operation from the inquiry.
Depending on the outcome of that advice, it will recommend this course to a full meeting of members next Tuesday. PFJ had informed the Department of Health of this course of action, she said.
The inquiry into the policy on post-mortems in Irish hospitals was set up following a campaign by parents who discovered that some of their children's organs had been removed and retained without their consent.
They set up Parents for Justice in December 1999, seeking a statutory inquiry into what had occurred, and new legislation to cover issues relating to human tissue.
They sought a public statutory inquiry because it would have had the power to compel witnesses and order the discovery of documents.
However, such inquiries involve legal representation for the participants and can become lengthy and expensive.
Instead the Department of Health set up, in April 2000, a private inquiry under the chairmanship of Ms Dunne.
It would be public in that its results would be laid before the Oireachtas Committee on Health, but its hearings and all its proceedings would take place in private.
"If our legal advice indicates that the road to go is withdrawal from this, we will recommend that next week, and seek a full statutory inquiry, which is what we wanted all along," Ms O'Reilly said.