Organs from almost 100 children have been kept by Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, the House was told.

The hospital intends to contact the families of 98 children whose organs were kept after postmortem examinations, once a "mechanism" has been established to deal sensitively with the retained tissue/organs, according to the Minister of State for Health, Dr Tom Moffatt.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, Dr Moffatt said the Minister would be meeting concerned parents about the retention of organs by the hospital without their knowledge.

The Department of Health's chief medical officer had yesterday written to the chief executive officers of the health agencies calling on them to ensure that a policy of informed consent by the next-of-kin operated in each agency.

"Each agency has also been asked to make appropriate arrangements to deal with any organs or tissue which have been retained and in a manner which is sensitive to the needs of individual families."

Dr Moffatt was responding during an adjournment debate to Mr John Browne (FG, Carlow-Kilkenny) and Mr John McGuinness (FF, Carlow-Kilkenny) who raised the controversy surrounding the hospital's practice of retaining tissue and organs and called for a public inquiry.

Mr Browne said it was "shocking and cruel" for parents to discover that a child's heart and lungs were on a shelf in the hospital, five years after the child's death. He asked how the organs of a child could be kept for five years in any hospital. "Why should this have happened and can the Minister guarantee that this will never happen again?"

Mr McGuinness said all concerned families should be given complete access to files and information and that the Justice for Parents Group should be given a public inquiry.

He called on the Minister to explain why the hospital kept human organs in storage for five years without knowledge and consent of parents. He asked what policies prevailed prior to 1997 and what organs were still in storage without the knowledge of parents.

Dr Moffatt expressed his "sincere sympathy to the families concerned for the stress and additional grief they have suffered as a result of the disclosure of practices in this sensitive area".

He said concerns first arose in June this year "from a specific case at the hospital where it emerged that tissue had been retained following a post-mortem procedure performed at the hospital in 1985".

The Department of Health's chief medical officer reviewed the hospital's practices and was satisfied that it was "consistent with the standard practice of pathologists in general". The officer was satisfied that the hospital had taken "appropriate steps to introduce a more comprehensive consent form which dealt specifically with the retention of tissue and organs".

The Faculty of Pathology at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland had been reviewing current consent arrangements, and was finalising guidelines which would be issued to all pathologists. These would include recommendations that specific consent for retention of tissue for further diagnosis, research and teaching should be sought for all post-mortem examinations.