I ask the Minister and the Government to immediately hold a public inquiry into the loss of blood and other samples which belonged to the Geoghegan family from Askeaton, County Limerick. The report of the internal inquiry group appointed by the chief executive officer of the Mid-Western Health Board in November 2000 is flawed and the family deserves and demands an independent investigation into what can only be described as the limited information given to its members through the report.
The family has had concerns about its health for several years. Its members are concerned about environmental pollution or toxicity in the area. Such concern has existed for many years and in 1996 the Environmental Protection Agency initiated a full investigation into the problems. We still await a final report from the agency. As a result of the family's illnesses, many blood, urine and other samples were provided by its members. In April 1999 they were informed by the health board that a number of these samples had been lost. The family believed these samples were in the safe keeping of the health board, either in storage or at some stage of testing for various environmental toxins.
The family has been misled and has stated that it is concerned that some conspiracy is at work. The only way to resolve this issue for the Geoghegan family is to instigate an independent public inquiry. The health board did not store or test various samples and specimens. Why did this not happen? Why did the pathologist in administrative charge in the laboratory fail to deliver certain services at the request of the director of public health? Why are there no records which has made it impossible to verify whether all family samples were properly stored in the first place? I am convinced that the samples were not properly stored.
Despite assurances to the family why were all of the samples not stored? Why was no system put in place by the laboratory to ensure that this happened? What happened to the samples, including blood, hair and swabs, collected by the family and its general practitioner which were handed to the pathologist in administrative charge in the Mid-Western Health Board in Limerick by the area medical officer on behalf of the department of public health? What happened to the samples taken from a family member by an accident and emergency department staff member? Why did a blood sample supplied to be tested for toxins undergo a toxicology test?
The family deserves and demands a public inquiry to establish these issues and to clarify what blood and other samples went missing, to compile an inventory of blood taken and to establish when these samples went missing. The family deserves an independent examination of the statement by the pathologist in his letter of 13 April 1999 which was the only response sent to the director of public health over a two-year period. In this letter the pathologist stated that samples that were originally dispatched for analysis appeared to have gone astray in the post. He also stated that he originally divided the samples before despatch but that, unfortunately, during the move from the old laboratory to a new laboratory, they were discarded along with some other samples and, therefore, were no longer available for testing. The samples sent by post and those retained were lost. The pathologist said he made this statement because he could not think of any other explanation.
Neither I nor the Geoghegan family have any confidence in such a service. The issues are too serious for an internal Mid-Western Health Board inquiry. A public inquiry must be set up by the Minister. When will the family receive the promised apology, in person or otherwise, from the chief executive officer of the Mid-Western Health Board? From as early as April 1997, the family was entitled to believe the board was looking after its health concerns, including making arrangements to store and test samples and specimens. When the family supplied a list of chemicals and asked that its samples be tested for these chemicals, it was led to believe that this would happen. For more than one year the family regularly inquired as to the progress in this regard and was reassured that samples were being stored, tested and sent to other laboratories. The family was also told that the results of some tests had been received while others were awaited. The family was eventually told that everything had been lost. In short, the family was misled and feels let down.
It should be noted that the group established that the department of public health was in regular contact with the family and advised them on this matter. The report states that the department was unwittingly relaying misleading information to the family. It is easy to understand how the family could conclude that there was a conspiracy, that poisons or toxins had been detected in the samples and that the board and others were conspiring to keep this information from them. The Minister should ensure that this issue is concluded by way of a public inquiry.
