A leading expert in legal medicine has questioned whether it is legally permissible to furnish documentation obtained by the Dunne inquiry into postmortem practices in the Republic's hospitals to a new inquiry set up last week by Minister for Health Mary Harney.
While emphasising that he wholeheartedly welcomed the appointment of Dr Deirdre Madden of the University College Cork (UCC) law faculty to complete a report on the retention of human organs, Dr Denis Cusack, professor of legal medicine at University College Dublin, said there was a serious question about the legal basis for anyone other than Ms Dunne examining the documents furnished to her inquiry.
In raising the issue, Dr Cusack told The Irish Times he did so out of concern that the new inquiry would be carried out on a "lawful basis and one that would leave no room for doubt". Dr Cusack said that paragraph 7 of the memorandum on procedures of the Dunne inquiry referred in a specific manner to the use of documents furnished to it.
Paragraph 7.6 of the memorandum on procedures states: "All documents furnished to the inquiry shall remain the property of the person or body furnishing such documents," while 7.7 says: "documents furnished to the inquiry shall be furnished to it and received by it on the strict understanding that they be treated as private and confidential and they be used solely for the purposes of the inquiry and will be returned by the inquiry at an appropriate time after the work of the inquiry is completed".
Dr Cusack said he is concerned that as the Dunne inquiry has ceased to exist following its formal closure by Ms Dunne on March 31st last, the use of over 50 boxes of documentation can only happen if consent to do so is formally obtained from both individuals and institutions.
However, a spokesman for Ms Harney said last night: "The issue has been examined by the Minister. Legal advice from the Attorney General is that the documents can be looked at, provided fair procedure is used."