Gardaí will again seek an adjournment today of the inquest into the death of a man whose body was exhumed last summer as part of an investigation into the alleged activities of a nurse at Naas General Hospital.
The inquest, which opened in December and is due for mention at the Kildare coroner's court this morning, will be told that gardaí are still preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Gardaí at Naas began their inquiry in conjunction with the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation in July following a complaint from the South Western Area Health Board, which runs the hospital. The nurse was suspended from duty at the same time. The move followed complaints from colleagues in relation to the amount of medication the nurse had allegedly given to patients.
One of those patients, Mr John Gethings (77), from Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, had died at the hospital in March and his body was exhumed for post-mortem examination when the Garda investigation began.
It is the inquest into his death and that of another unnamed patient who died at the hospital in May, but whose body has not been exhumed, which will be mentioned at the coroner's court this morning.
A Garda spokesman said yesterday it was expected a file on their investigation into the nurse and the deaths of these patients would go to the DPP in the next two to three weeks. The inquests cannot proceed until the Garda investigation is complete.
The nurse, who had been employed at the hospital through an agency for a period of six months, is also the subject of an investigation by the South Western Area Health Board. It is understood the nurse denies all the allegations.
The coroner for Kildare, Prof Denis Cusack, said last July that based on information provided to him, he was satisfied the two deaths at Naas hospital "may have occurred in an unnatural manner".