The Minister for Health has admitted that her department has no statistics on the number of people who have died as a result of infection by MRSA, the so-called superbug.
However, Mary Harney told the Dáil today that she had been strongly advised by medical experts that in the majority of cases the cause of death was the underlying illness which led to hospital admission in the first place.
Ms Harney also said she found it 'quite extraordinary' that the main cause of the spread of the disease was 'hand hygiene', or medical staff failing to wash their hands.
She was responding to John Gormley of the Green Party, who claimed that while deputies had been told such deaths were uncommon, the Irish Medical Times reported the death of six patients in Dublin's Mater Hosptial from a 'superbug' in six months last year.
Deputy Gormley also claimed that some GPs were handing out antibiotics 'like smarties', which was adding to the problem.
