A medical Council inquiry into the competence and standard of clinical judgment demonstrated by Dr Moira Woods, the first director of the Rotunda Hospital's sexual assault treatment unit, resumes today.
The council is investigating complaints by five fathers who allege they were wrongly accused by Dr Woods of sexually abusing their children in the 1980s. The High Court ruled in April that the inquiry should be held in camera and ordered the Eastern Health Board to produce documents on some 17 children who were the focus of in-camera court hearings.
The EHB had claimed that the Medical Council inquiry was prohibited from availing of the documents in its possession, in response to a request from its chairman for the board to make available to it all the relevant records relating to the children in question. Dr Woods supported the application for production of the records.
Mr Justice Barr, however, held that a statutory obligation that proceedings be held in private did not imply there was an absolute embargo on disclosure of evidence in all circumstances. He said that the Medical Council could publish its findings, but warned that it must protect the anonymity of the parents and children.