Harney to shut down inquiry into organ retention

The Government is to close down the Dunne inquiry into post-mortem practices in hospitals in less than six weeks' time.

If no report has been produced by then, the Department of Health is to commission a new independent expert to draw up a report based on information which has been gathered by the existing inquiry.

The State has already paid out nearly €20 million on the inquiry into the retention of human organs in hospitals.

However, despite several deadlines no substantive report has yet been produced.

The chairman of the inquiry, senior counsel Ms Anne Dunne, had agreed with the then minister for health, Mr Martin, last September that a report on the retention of organs would be provided by Christmas. This did not happen.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Ms Harney, told the Dáil in a written parliamentary answer that Ms Dunne had been advised that the Government had decided that the inquiry should conclude its work before March 31st. She said that it would cease to exist after that date.

However, sources close to the Department of Health have told The Irish Times that while it was possible that a report could be produced by the Dunne inquiry before the deadline in six weeks' time, that there was now "no expectation" that this would happen.

Sources said there would be no extension to the March 31st deadline. "The remit of the Dunne inquiry will end at the 31st of March and it will not be continued. But that will not be the end of the issue.

"If no report has been submitted, the Department will bring somebody else in to write it up based on the information that has been gathered in the course of the current inquiry," one highly-placed source close to the Department of Health told The Irish Times last night.

Under its terms of reference, the inquiry was to review the post mortem practices and procedures in all hospitals in the State since 1970.

It was also mandated to examine any arrangements between pharmaceutical companies and hospitals in relation to the retention of organs.

The Department of Health said last year that the inquiry had run up costs of €11.5 million to the end of last August.

In addition, the Department had provided a further €6.7 million to hospitals and to the Parents for Justice organisation - the representative body for families affected by the organ retention controversy - to cover costs associated with the inquiry.

The Parents for Justice group has complained in the past that the inquiry had missed five deadlines to produce a report.

The Tánaiste is expected to meet with the Parents for Justice group in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health is to carry out a review of policy on organ donation, procurement and utilisation in Ireland. It is expected that this will form part of Ireland's contribution to a proposed new EU directive on organs.

Ms Harney said the European Commission was considering the question of a directive in respect of organ transplantation, including the issue of consent.