Terms of reference: The Cabinet is to be consulted shortly by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, about the possibility of broadening the terms of reference drawn up for the Neary inquiry.
The decision was announced last evening following a meeting between Mr Martin and Patient Focus, the group representing women who claim they were damaged by the former Drogheda obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Michael Neary.
Dr Neary was last year found guilty of professional misconduct by the Medical Council over the unnecessary removal of the wombs of 10 patients. He has since been struck off the medical register.
Since then Patient Focus has been discussing with Mr Martin the terms of reference for a State inquiry into how Dr Neary, who practised at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda from 1974 to 1998, was allowed continue damaging patients for so long.
The terms of reference were on the brink of being finalised when Patient Focus reacted angrily on Sunday to their narrow focus.
In particular they were "horrified", according to spokeswoman Ms Sheila O'Connor, that the inquiry would only examine events from 1986 onwards. She said women in her group claimed they underwent unnecessary Caesarean hysterectomies from the late 1970s on.
Furthermore, she was concerned that the inquiry, under the terms of references which were proposed by the Department of Health, would not have the powers to compel witnesses to appear before it. There was therefore a danger that Dr Neary himself would not appear, she said. He chose not to attend a Medical Council inquiry into six further complaints against him in February.
Patient Focus met Mr Martin at a meeting in Dublin yesterday afternoon and told him it could not co-operate with the inquiry unless the terms of reference for it were changed.
One of the few things they were happy about was the fact that the inquiry will examine how the records of some women patients disappeared from Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
Following the meeting with Mr Martin, Ms O'Connor said there had been a frank exchange of views.
"He is going back to Cabinet with our opinions on compellability of witnesses and a broadening of the terms of reference to include all Caesarean hysterectomies, not just those dealt with by the Medical Council inquiry," she said.
"We were heard and we are hopeful something constructive will come out of this that will enable us participate in the inquiry," she added.
A spokeswoman for the Minister confirmed Mr Martin would be raising the concerns of Patient Focus with his Cabinet colleagues and both sides would meet again in a number of weeks.
Labour's health spokeswoman Ms Liz McManus said the form of inquiry which had been proposed by Mr Martin before yesterday's meeting fell "hopelessly short" of what was required.
"The women who have suffered so terribly have the right to know the full story of the cruel treatment they received. Only a proper independent inquiry can deliver this," she said.
Earlier yesterday Mr Martin suggested the inquiry would have to be confined to the years covered by the Medical Council inquiry, that is from 1986 on. However, he did say the bottom line was that he wanted to find out "how this happened over a significant period of time ... and to make sure something like this does not happen again and that the correct protocols and the correct culture is in place in every institution in the country to prevent such a recurrence of the issues that arose in Drogheda".