An internal investigation of hospitals involved in inappropriate disposal of organs has found issues at three local facilities.
Midlands Regional Hospital Tullamore, University Hospital Galway and Portiuncula Hospital Ballinasloe were all featured in the report on the improper retention of organs from child autopsies.
According to the Irish Examiner, multiple facilities across the country have retained organs for more than the one year specified by HSE regulations.
The longest period recorded locally was in Tullamore Hospital where some organs were retained for close to five years before being released for cremation.
The audit found the organs from the autopsies of 28 children in UHG were held for over a year since 2018.
While organs were also retained at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinalsoe as release approval was sought from the consultant who preformed the examination.
Speaking in the Dail today, Sinn Fein Leader Mary Lou McDonald says the public need to be reassured that this will never happen again:
I think we are of one mind all across the Dail that all of this is completely unacceptable.
What the families have been through, losing a precious child or loved one.
Then the horror of discovering that their organs were disposed of in this manner.
We need an assurance here that this is not the current process in any hospital in the state
