McCole family calls on Cowen not to publish report on mother's case

The McCole family has made a dramatic eleventh-hour appeal to the Government not to publish the State's legal strategy in their late mother's case. As the Cabinet approved the release of its report on the legal documentation in Mrs Brigid McCole's court case, the family's lawyers intervened to say that they wanted to be given the papers but, in the interests of privacy, they did not want them published.

The letter from Ivor Fitzpatrick and Co is believed to have been delivered to the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, last Friday, as he was in the final stages of concluding his long-awaited report for yesterday's Government meeting.

Government sources seemed surprised by the latest development since Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats had made a "solemn pledge" during the election campaign that, if elected, they would publish the files on the legal strategy in the McCole case.

They did so in the knowledge that the McCole family, in an open letter on October 9th last relating to the terms of reference of the hepatitis C Tribunal, wanted five questions answered.

The last government incorporated four of those questions into the terms of reference but it rejected the fifth: who devised and authorised the legal strategy in the case?

The Rainbow Coalition came in for much criticism during the election campaign for not answering this key question. It claimed that it would breach the professional privilege attached to the lawyer-client relationship.

Mrs McCole's daughter, Brid, also gave an emotional press conference four days before the election was called urging the former Minister, Mr Michael Noonan, to "do the decent thing" and explain the State's legal strategy in dealing with her mother's case.

The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, said last night that it was his intention to deal with the issue so as to be sensitive to the McCole family and also deal with the pressing questions of public interest which needed to be addressed.

Mr Cowen is expected to respond to the McCole's letter today. He will not be sending a copy of his report to the family, however, until they clarify the privacy question.

The Cabinet, at its last meeting before the month-long summer break, discussed a report from an independent legal counsel who was employed to go through all the documentation from the various agencies involved in the McCole issue. The Government spokesman said it was a factual report on the legal strategy employed in the first hepatitis C court case.

Mr Cowen also received the views of other Ministers on the correspondence received from the McCole family's legal representatives so that he could respond to it today.

It is understood that until he gets a response to his letter from the McCole representatives, he will not be able to make a decision in relation to the time schedule for dealing with the issue of publication.