Support service: A helpline announced by the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, to assist people affected by the organ retention controversy following the publication of a report into the practice last week has been sharply criticised by a family who contacted it.
Tony Kelly, whose son's organs were retained by Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, after he died in 1980, said when he called the helpline a woman said she could only take his name, number and a few other details and would refer them to Our Lady's Hospital which would call him back.
But Mr Kelly said he had already spent months trying to get his child's file from Crumlin hospital without success.
He believed in calling the helpline somebody new would be able to assist him but this was not the case.
"It's not a helpline. It's a con," he said.
"All they do is record your personal information and pass it back to the people you have already dealt with ad nauseam," he said.
Mr Kelly, who is originally from Tallaght but now lives in Co Laois, said the woman at the end of the helpline was very understanding and agreed with him that the service provided was not a helpline.
However, a spokeswoman for the Health Service Executive (HSE) said that the line had been advertised by it as an information line for anyone affected by any of the issues raised in the report by Dr Deirdre Madden into organ retention.
The advertisement, she said, stated that callers' details would be referred "to the relevant hospital and followed up".
A Department of Health press release issued with the Madden report last Wednesday afternoon, however, had referred to it as a helpline.
The HSE spokeswoman added that if people preferred not to deal directly with a hospital they could write to the HSE or the Department of Health.
In addition, she said the HSE could put in place arrangements for independent counselling for people affected by the controversy.
The telephone line, which was set up to deal with people who had issues arising from the Madden report, remains open on every weekday from 8am to 8pm.
The helpline can be contacted at 1850 241 850. By yesterday evening it had received almost 50 calls.