Relatives of elderly patients who died in Leas Cross have accused the Health Service Executive (HSE) of ignoring them during the investigation of abuse at the nursing home.
At a briefing to mark the publication of the long-awaited document earlier today, relatives claimed that the HSE's treatment towards them both during the investigation and after had been unacceptable.
Some said that they had only found out about the publication of the report this week and had been forced to contact the HSE themselves in order to obtain a copy of the document.
Others expressed anger over the fact that no-one was being held accountable for the abuses uncovered in RTÉ's Prime Timeprogramme. They also said that relatives were the only ones who weren't consulted during the Leas Cross investigation, despite voluntarily submitting information to the HSE.
"The people who died in Leas Cross are not being talked about today. They are the forgotten victims. It's unacceptable. It could all have been handled so differently. We're not the enemy," said Catherine O'Flynn, whose mother Annie died in the nursing home in February 2004,
Tony Walsh, whose father Richard died in Beaumont Hospital in April 2003, four weeks after being admitted from Leas Cross, said that the report did not provide the answers to what the relatives were entitled too.
"We cannot go forward from here. We, and the memories of our departed loved ones, deserve, demand and cry out for better explanations than those that are contained in this qualified and limited report that has been presented today." said Mr Walsh.
The HSE said it had offered a copy of the report before publication to relatives of former patients who contacted it.
