The Ceann Comhairle and Taoiseach yesterday shut down a question by Aontú TD, Peadar Tóibín, about the wrongly diagnosed child that was aborted at Holles Street Hospital.

Deputy Tóibín raised the case at the behest of the parents of the child as a review of the case still has not commenced and the family involved “have had no input into the composition of the panel or the terms of reference”.

Mr Toibin told the Dáil that the mother has said she was examined by only one obstetrician, even though the law requires examination by two physicians. In a meeting with the Minister for Health, Mr Toibin said the Minister acknowledged to the parents that the medical notes indicated that the legislation was breached and it was also accepted by officials that a case such as this could be a case for the Garda.

However, the Ceann Comhairle said he was “deeply uncomfortable about the raising of a specific matter of this nature which may be the subject of litigation or inquiry,” and the Taoiseach said he too was “reluctant to discuss in the Chamber the medical history of any individual or anything of that nature”.