Denials of responsibility by a Dublin residential home for people with disabilities is compounding the hurt for the family of a man who died after leaving its care, his family has said.
Peter McKenna, who had Down Syndrome and Alzheimer's disease, was transferred from St Michael's House in Ballymun to the Leas Cross nursing home in Swords where he later died of blood poisoning in October 2000.
He had been cared for by St Michael's House for 23 years and was moved against his family's wishes because St Michael's said it could no longer care for his needs.
Relatives of Mr McKenna (60), today held an hour-long private meeting with Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney.
An independent report into Mr McKenna's death commissioned by the Health Service Executive and prepared by Martin Hynes, former head of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, was given to the McKenna family last week.
It is believed to have found that Leas Cross was not in a position to fully care for the patient's needs and he should never have been transferred there.
Mr McKenna's half brother, Dan Moore, claimed today that St Michael's house was still in denial over its responsibility in the matter.
However Mr Moore said he was prepared to meet management at St Michael's House to discuss the handling of the case.
He said after the meeting with Ms Harney: "There are lessons to be learned and I wouldn't want this to happen to anybody or any family again. St Michael's House is in denial and as long as they are in denial, they are compounding the hurt to the family.
"We can never bring Peter back but we should certainly move on to try to resolve things. "We're resolute now that we want accountability."
St Michael's House said last week that it had acted at all times in the best interests of Mr McKenna and that the decision to transfer him to Leas Cross was made in good faith. It initiated the transfer after having cared for Mr McKenna for 23 years because it could no longer look after him.
As Mr McKenna was a ward of court, the ultimate decision on his transfer was made by the High Court, St Michael's added.
Ms Harney later said in a statement that she regretted that it had taken five years for a report into Mr McKenna's death to be completed.
She acknowledged that there had already been progress made in implementing some of the recommendations in the report but urged the HSE to complete the implementation process as quickly as possible.
She endorsed the commitment of the HSE to develop and support a new code of governance for all services, including those provided by other agencies.
A spokesperson added: "The Tánaiste noted the acknowledgement of the HSE that there may remain some unanswered questions for Mr McKenna's family and welcomed the offer made by the HSE to Mr McKenna's family to continue to engage with them in this regard and to facilitate a meeting with St Michael's House if they so wish.
"The Tánaiste once again offered her sympathy to Mr McKenna's family and expressed confidence that the learning derived from this investigation would in the future be used positively by all parties to protect the interests and quality of services for persons in receipt of care."
PA