The family of a 22-year-old Dublin man who died after contracting pneumonia tonight said they wanted an inquest into his death to establish that a three-in-one vaccination was to blame.
The inquest into the 1995 death of Alan Duffy from Howth Road in Clontarf, Dublin, was adjourned in 1999 at the Dublin City Coroner's Court to allow a judicial review to take place.
His father, Kevin, who was accompanied at today's sitting of the coroner's court by his daughter Tracey, said after the brief hearing: "What we want to see happening is (a finding) the three-in-one vaccination caused our son's death 10-years ago this December."
Mr Duffy died in 1995 after contracting pneumonia - he had received the three-in-one vaccine between October 1973 and February 1974. His family have argued the pneumonia was due to his mental handicap, which was caused by an encephalopathic reaction to the vaccine.
The High Court ruled in 1999 that any link between his death and the vaccine was too indistinct to make it appropriate for investigation by a coroner. And the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the coroner against the decision.
The hearing today heard the family had been contemplating whether to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg against the decision stopping the coroner investigating if the vaccine had played a role in the death.
The coroner Dr Brian Farrell said: "We need to bring the formal inquest proceedings to a conclusion."
But he said he did not believe it would be lawful to bring the same jury back to give a verdict six years later.
He said: "We had been going to hear an expert on the so-called encephalopathic reaction to the three-in-one vaccine. I don't think that can be done now."
Dr Farrell said the Supreme Court had adopted the view that Section 26 of the Coroner's Act, 1962 limited the coroner to calling only two medical practitioners.
He said issues would have to be considered such as whether a new inquest should be called, if it could proceed on the papers or whether the coroner could sit alone.
PA