Monageer report not censored - Minister

Health Minister Mary Harney has said the report on the Monageer familicide tragedy was edited on the advice of the Attorney General.

The Minister said she would love to be able to publish the report in full. "Unfortunately, we were not able to because of the advice of the Atrtorney General, and outside Senior Counsel advice was sought in relation to that matter."

She said she was in favour of publishing the report in full; there was no question of censorship. "What we tried to do here was to be sensitive to both families in this situation and to all the healthcare professionals involved, but above all else we have to obey the law."

The Minister said the report was harrowing to read.

The Government has come in for strong criticism since the report was published over the fact that large tracts of it, including some conclusions and recommendations, were deleted on legal advice.

The Minister said legal clearance was needed before all of the report could be given to the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children.

She said the report showed that no matter what supports were in place, the tragedy would not have been avoided.

On the out-of-hours social work issue, she said from June 1, children in danger can be taken from their home and placed in care on an emergency basis.

The Minister said we do not have social work out-of-hours services for the entire country "but we are talking here about a small number of cases that may arise and in the context of resources available we have got to put an appropriate service in place."

[Posted: Thu 14/05/2009]