Members of the Eastern Health Board will be told at a special meeting tomorrow that they cannot discuss the case of the 13-yearold pregnant rape victim in the board's care.
The meeting to discuss the board's policy on abortion was requested last week by three board members, including Ms Bernadette Bonar, a long-time antiabortion activist.
She said yesterday she would be asking who was counselling the 13-year-old and what kind of counselling she was getting.
But the board's chairwoman, the Labour TD, Ms Roisin Shortall, said such discussion would be ruled out of order as the board did not discuss individual cases.
She said the handling of the girl's case was also an executive function dealt with by officials, and board members had no authority in the matter.
She would not allow any motions which would tie the chief executive officer's hands in dealing with the issue.
As well as Ms Bonar, the request for tomorrow's meeting was signed by a Labour councillor, Mr Tommy Cullen, and Dr Charles Smith of the Central Remedial Hospital in Dundrum.
Other members agreed that the meeting, which will be held in private, was unlikely to affect the board's management of the girl's case.
The Fianna Fail TD, Mr Ivor Callely, said members were entitled to decide policy, but the board could have no policy on abortion other than that laid down by the law and directives given by the courts.
A Labour councillor, Ms Jane Dillon-Byrne, said the board's executive must operate within strict legal parameters and she did not know how any members could be "ill-informed or optimistic" enough to think they could influence its actions.
The Labour TD, Mr Pat Upton, said he did not see how the board could take any action other than the directive to be given by the courts.
However, a Fine Gael councillor, Mr Stanley Laing, said the meeting had been called to find out from officials what exactly the board's approach had been to "the present situation".
Members wished to ask the chief executive, Mr P.J. Fitzpatrick, "what he has done and what he intends to do". It was a clarification meeting and he did not envisage any motions being put.
Asked if she would be satisfied to learn the girl was receiving non-directive counselling, Ms Bonar said: "What is non-directive counselling? It's another name for abortion referral."
She said board members were being contacted by people from all over the country "who think we're making these decisions" regarding the girl. Tomorrow's meeting would test the relative powers of the board members and its executive officers, she claimed.
"It has never been put to the test so strongly before. We have to clarify the position of the board's members vis-a-vis the executive."
But Ms Shortall said the respective powers of board officials and members were clearly set down in legislation. The members had specific powers which were largely confined to budgetary matters.
The board never discussed individual cases for confidentiality reasons, and in this case these were reinforced by court directives which would prevent discussion of case details.
