In a case in which parents are claiming they were wrongly accused of sexually abusing children a High Court judge yesterday decided the proceedings should be heard before him in camera although two parents said they wanted the matter heard in public.
The court is dealing with an action brought by the Eastern Health Board. The board has been asked to produce certain documents at a Medical Council inquiry into allegations against a prominent Dublin doctor.
The council is inquiring into complaints by a group of parents who are alleging they were wrongly accused by Dr Moira Woods of sexually abusing their children in the late 1980s. Fifteen children are involved.
Dr Woods was the first director of the Sexual Assault Unit at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.
The Eastern Health Board is refusing to hand over documentation about a number of children at the centre of private court hearings.
Yesterday's proceedings related to notice of a motion being brought by the board which seeks to quash a Medical Council order directing the production of records in the board's possession.
The board also wants the court to inquire into whether evidence previously given at private hearings of family law cases can be used at the Medical Council's inquiry. The board wants the council's inquiry to be in private.
When the matter came before Mr Justice Barr yesterday, Mr Dan Herbert SC, for the board, said the court had a discretion to hear the application in private if it concerned minors.
Mr Kevin Feeney SC, for the Medical Council, said his clients would prefer if the matter was heard in public. There would be no need to go into factual matters.
Counsel said the application before the court concerned the availability of documents used in in-camera proceedings and what occurred in those proceedings.
Apart from the difficulty that counsel might mistakenly name one of the children, there were documents before the court containing names, and one document contained 90 per cent of the results of tests carried out by Dr Woods, Mr Feeney said.
Mr Eugene Gleeson, for Dr Woods, supported the application for an in-camera hearing.
Two fathers, representing themselves, were asked by Mr Justice Barr if they would prefer to have the matter heard in camera. Mr H said he would prefer to have the matter heard in public.
Mr R said he and his wife wanted the hearing to be held in public because they wanted the public "to know what is going on".
Mr Justice Barr said, notwithstanding the views of the two men, his primary concern when dealing with applications of this sort was the interests of the children.
He did not think it would be in the children's best interests that there could be a risk that their identities become known outside the court.
The judge directed that the hearing be conducted in camera.
In due course, judgment would be given in open court, he said.