Gardaí said this morning they were continuing to examine a report on the high rate of Caesarean hysterectomies at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.
The report by Judge Maureen Harding Clark in March found that 188 women had their wombs removed over a twenty five year period from 1974 onwards. A total of 129 of those were carried out by Dr Michael Neary, who has since been struck off the medical register.
The report also found that the files of 44 women who had hysterectomies were missing and it believed that an unidentified person or persons, who had knowledge of where records were stored in the hospital, was responsible for their deliberate, careful and systematic removal.
A previous Garda investigation into the missing files ended in a file being sent to the DPP but no prosection was taken. Reacting to a report this morning that a new investigation is under way, a spokesman in the Garda press office said: "We are continuing to examine the Harding-Clark report in detail. There's nothing new in that."
"We will se if any part of it requires criminal investigation," he added.
Dr Neary is believed to have returned to his home in Monasterboice near Drogheda recently. Gardaí may speak to the former consultant in the next number of weeks.