A new controversy has erupted over the treatment of the O'Hara family whose four autistic children were taken into care by the Health Service Executive two months ago.
The children were returned after several court appearances, at the last of which the judge refused to renew a care order.
Today in the Dáil, the Taoiseach refused to withdraw specific allegations he had made on the Dáil record last week about the family.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte claimed that the allegations had been made during the court case, and were therefore subject to the ‘in camera rule’, and that they had been comprehensively rejected by the judge in the case.
Bertie Ahern said he would not be withdrawing anything he had said.
Later, a spokesperson for the Taoiseach said he had written to Mrs O'Hara to say he had not wanted to bring their family affairs into the public domain, and would not have done so if the issue had not been raised by Deputy Rabbitte.
She added that the information had not come to the Taoiseach's attention as a result of the court case, but had been in the possession of the Department of Health before the case began.
The statement also denied Deputy Rabbitte's claim that the HSE had not been in touch with the O'Hara family since the case, saying that the executive had been in touch through an advocate, and that detailed discussions in respect of the care package to meet the family's needs have commenced.
