National guidelines advising hospitals to circumcise male infants, if requested for cultural reasons, will soon be issued.
Hospitals will have to draw up medical and clinical policies and a service plan to cater for the new service. Post-operative care will also have to be provided for the young patients.
It is still unclear whether an age limit has been set in the guidelines but one health board already refuses to carry out circumcisions on boys under two years.
The guidelines are now being finalised by the National Committee on Cultural Male Circumcision, and a meeting is scheduled for next week. The group was appointed by the then minister for health, Mr Micheál Martin, earlier this year after it emerged that hospitals were given no guidance on the issue.
This came to light when a one-month-old baby died after a home circumcision went wrong. Callis Osaghae was brought to Waterford Regional Hospital last August after a botched circumcision with a razor blade.
Mr Osagie Igbinedion, with an address in Kilkenny, has been remanded on bail to appear at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court on charges relating to the incident next year.
Most Muslims require their children to be circumcised by six months of age. While most hospitals do not routinely carry out male circumcisions on cultural or religious grounds, some health boards have made arrangements on an individual basis for providing this service.
Earlier this year the South Eastern Health Board (SEHB)agreed to routinely carry out circumcisions on religious grounds, pending the findings of the advisory group.
This followed a report by Dr Neville DeSouza, a SEHB public-health specialist, who pointed out that "if these infants are not offered a service by the health board, the parents will turn to individuals who lack the skills and experience to perform it safely and competently, and the lack of provision of adequate post-operative care".
He warned that post-operative complications could arise, such as uncontrolled bleeding, acute renal failure and even death.
Following his recommendations, male circumcisions can now be done at Wexford General Hospital on boys over two years old. They must be referred by a GP or public health nurse.
The national advisory group will be issuing its report to the Minister for Health, Ms Harney, "very shortly", a Department of Health spokeswoman said yesterday. The group's chairman is the consultant paediatrician Prof Denis Gill of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Meanwhile, gardaí in Swinford, Co Mayo, are still investigating reports that a couple were recently travelling around the west, offering circumcisions for €175.
In August it was reported that a blonde-haired white man and a black woman in her 50s were canvassing pregnant women and offering the service if male babies were delivered.
