The Information Commissioner, Emily O'Reilly has criticised the "unwarranted adversarial" attitude adopted by the National Maternity Hospital towards her office over access to documents relating to the retention of organs.
In a finding published last night, Ms O'Reilly revealed she had warned the hospital last year that her office could effectively raid the premises and force staff to provide documentation for inspection.
Ms O'Reilly has ordered the hospital to provide some material on the organ-retention issue to the Parents for Justice group on foot of a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
She has also made a similar order in respect of a request to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin.
The National Maternity Hospital had refused to provide documentation which had been sought by Parents for Justice, the body which represents families affected by the controversy.
However, in her finding on an appeal brought by the group, Ms O'Reilly criticised the hospital's approach. "The main problem encountered was the hospital's reluctance to accept that the FOI Act entitles me to be provided with the records."
The commissioner said that the hospital wanted to impose certain pre-conditions on her conduct of the review before it would provide the records.
She said that the hospital was put on notice that her staff would call to the premises to view the documents, but that eventually the material was provided the day prior to the planned visit.
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