TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said a HSE audit that revealed that Irish hospitals continued to incinerate organs of children and adults until recently – against the HSE’s own guidelines – should be published without delay. 

It has also been revealed that multiple public hospitals held organs for more than a year, again against guidelines.

Martin offered his “deepest sympathies” to the families impacted, stating that what happened only compounded their grief.

‘Distressing’ 

He said what took place was “wrong” and “unacceptable”, adding that it was “distressing” that hospitals are still engaging in retaining organs beyond the timeline guidelines and without proper communication with loved ones. 

Speaking during Leaders’ Questions, Mary Lou McDonald said “we can only ever imagine” the hurt caused to families.

“These revelations at the time were met with understandable public outrage, and we can only ever imagine the extreme hurt, the extreme distress, that these families have experienced,” she said.

She said that last year, parents of 18 babies born at Cork University Maternity Hospital were informed that their children’s organs were sent to Belgium for incineration, without their knowledge or consent.

“This happened on two occasions between March and April of 2020. The bereaved parents had believed that the organs of their babies, who had been subject to autopsy, would be cremated or buried in a sensitive and dignified manner and that they would be contacted before this happened. As we now know, none of that happened,” she told the Taoiseach. 

She raised concerns that multiple public hospitals throughout the State have retained organs from children for more than the one year specified by HSE policy, stating this happened in hospitals in Dublin, Tullamore, Limerick, Waterford and Portlaoise.

“At Crumlin children’s hospital, the organs of one child were kept, it seems, for more than 20 years. The breaches of care and dignity, with regard to the treatment of organs, are widespread and these revelations have emerged when the families affected by the initial scandal at Cork University Maternity Hospital are still waiting for answers,” she said. 

Delays in legislation 

The Government has promised the speedy delivery of legislation to protect the legal guidelines around the retention and disposal of human organs and tissue, said McDonald, asking questions why the Human Tissue Bill, which was due to be published by the end of last year, has been delayed. 

“In many respects, it is incomprehensible, given that there was a major inquiry nearly 20 years ago, which covered every single hospital in the country, in terms of post-mortem practice. Guidelines were established,” said the Taoiseach.

“The HSE did the audit. At least, I take something from that, in that it did a robust audit and has revealed the latest incidence with regard to hospitals in Limerick, Drogheda and elsewhere. That should be published without delay,” he said.

“This should not be happening in today’s world,” he said.

The Taoiseach said the Human Tissue Bill needs to be published, adding that he spoke to the Minister of Health Stephen Donnelly and also the Attorney General.

“I made it clear I want that legislation published in September,” he said, stating that there will need to be cooperation from all Members of the House to get that Bill enacted.

“That is a commitment I am makin,” he said, adding that it will be “all hands on deck now to get this done once and for all”.

Planning amendments

Separately, during Leaders’ Questions, the Taoiseach was asked about last-minute amendments to a proposed planning law due to be voted on today.

Late last Thursday, opposition TDs received 48 pages of amendments that were added to the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 which was originally 18 pages long.

That left just three working days for examination before voting on it this evening in the Dáil, as reported by Noteworthy, the investigative platform of The Journal, which is currently examining the judicial review process as part of an upcoming investigation – THE CONSTRUCTION NETWORK.

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy said some of the proposed amendments on challenging proposed decisions of An Bord Pleanála in the courts were extremely far-reaching.

“For example, one provision would allow the An Bord Pleanála to retrospectively change decisions that were wrong in fact or in law after the court challenge to the decision had been lodged,” she said.

She told the Dáil that the fact the Government would try to “shoehorn these kinds of planning amendments into a Bill that is supposed to deal with non-consequential issues when there are three separate investigations underway into An Bord Pleanála really beggars belief”.

“The controversy swirling around An Bord Pleanála has already resulted in the resignation of the deputy chair, Mr. Paul Hyde, late last Friday,” she added.

The Taoiseach defended the Government’s plan for the Bill, stating that all four sets of amendments were identified by Government for inclusion in the next available planning Bill, and were flagged in the Seanad on 6 April. He added that amendments were introduced in Committee Stages in the Dáil.

He said the Government is anxious to introduce new regulatory rules on short-term letting and a number of amendments to judicial review provisions in the planning act as soon as possible.

“There is a current supply shortage in the private rental sector. Many people in the House have raised the issue of short-term lettings and the need to tighten that up to create a greater availability of supply in the rental sector and specifically in rent pressure zones, which are the areas of highest housing demand, and thereby deliver increased units to the sector and stabilise rents. There is also a need to improve efficiencies in terms of the way in which judicial review cases are handled in the courts,” he said.