There is to be no further examination of the question of vaccine trials involving babies and children in institutional settings in the 1960s and 1970s, Minister for Health Mary Harney announced yesterday.
She said her decision follows a detailed examination of judgments in court cases related to the vaccine trials heard in both the High and Supreme courts.
In June 2004 the High Court ruled that the Government's order directing an inquiry into the trials, under the aegis of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, was invalid.
However, in making his decision Mr Justice Aindrias Ó Caoimh said it was not to be construed as suggesting that there might not be issues relating to the trials which might be the subject of an appropriate form of inquiry.
Other machinery may exist for an appropriate inquiry, he said.
Last night Victor Boyhan, who was in a home in the 1960 when the trials were alleged to have taken place, said he would be seeking an immediate meeting with Ms Harney to find out why she had made her decision.
"Certainly it was always our expectation that this matter would be comprehensively investigated," he said.
When news of the trials emerged in the 1990s, questions were raised about who authorised them.
However the High Court was told in 2004 that no one appeared to have experienced injury or harm as a result of them.
The chief medical officer at the Department of Health was asked to examine three clinical trials involving babies and children in institutional settings in 1960-61, 1970 and 1973 and his report was laid before the Oireachtas in November 2000.
The Government then decided to ask the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse to examine the matter.
However its work was stopped following challenges in the High and Supreme courts.
In a statement yesterday, the Department of Health said Ms Harney had now written to the chairman of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, Judge Seán Ryan, to advise him of her decision that there would be no further examination of the trials.