A High Court decision that a Medical Council inquiry into the conduct of a child sex abuse expert, Dr Moira Woods, should be heard in private will be challenged in the Supreme Court.
The main complainant against Dr Woods, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told The Irish Times yesterday he had instructed his solicitor to mount the appeal following statements by Dr Patricia Casey, chairwoman of the Fitness to Practise committee of the council, in The Irish Times this week. Dr Casey had outlined the committee's procedures in processing complaints, without referring specifically to this case.
The Medical Council first decided to conduct the inquiry into an allegation against Dr Woods of professional misconduct in April 1996, but so far it has been held up by disputes over confidentiality.
Dr Woods, who was involved in the diagnosis of child sex abuse at the Sexual Assault Unit in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, was one of the pioneering campaigners against child sex abuse in the 1980s.
The complainant in this case is one of a group of five families who claim that Dr Woods wrongly diagnosed their children as suffering from abuse.
In the case of one of the families a court later returned their children to them, criticising Dr Woods and the Eastern Health Board in the process.
Dr Woods strenuously denies the allegation, and has said she will vigorously contest it.
The families had sought a public hearing of the case, which was resisted by Dr Woods. In an unprecedented move the Medical Council decided to comply with their request. However, this course ran into difficulties when the Eastern Health Board refused to release files on the basis that they concerned minors, and were therefore confidential.
This was challenged in the High Court last April, where Mr Justice Barr ruled that it should release the documents, but that the hearing should be in private.