Harney cancels RTE appearance

Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney pulled out this week of a planned appearance on last night's Late Late Show.

A spokesman for Ms Harney said she withdrew after discovering the programme had sought confidential information about individual patients from a Dublin hospital.

Describing this as "a disturbing development", he added: "The hospital rightly refused to pass on the information."

He rejected claims that the Minister for Health had pulled out because she was unwilling to answer questions on the state of the health services.

The spokesman refused to identify the hospital and was unable to say whether RTÉ had the consent of patients when it sought the information.

However, it is believed the programme rang the Mater hospital in an attempt to contact patients in its accident and emergency department.

Ms Harney's spokesman said that on learning the programme was seeking this information, her office contacted the producers to express her concern.

On Wednesday evening, she informed them she was "not happy" to proceed with the planned interview.

An RTÉ spokeswoman confirmed that Ms Harney had been scheduled to appear but had withdrawn during the week.

Discussions about an appearance by the Minister on the Late Late Show had been ongoing for some months.

After two postponements, it was agreed she would be interviewed by presenter Pat Kenny last night and there would be "limited" audience participation, her spokesman said.

However, he claimed the programme then sought to introduce a wide range of other issues to the format.

The show went ahead with a feature on the state of the health services on last night's programme.

Last night, an RTÉ spokeswoman expressed disappointment at Ms Harney's decision not to take part after an agreement had been reached with her on the format and panel for her appearance.

The Late Late Show, said the spokeswoman, had carried out intensive research to verify the stories already in the public domain, as well as consulting experts about this "complex and often emotive topic".