Minister for Health Mary Harney has ruled out a public inquiry into the foetal misdiagnosis issue, saying Ireland is still one of the safest places in the world to give birth.
Speaking in Galway today, Ms Harney reiterated that a review of all the cases which occurred in the last five years was being put in place by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
"Prof Michael Turner, a former master of the Coombe and one of the leading obstetricians in the country - a world class obstetrician - made it clear that [a public inquiry] wouldn't be appropriate, and that a five years review was what should happen, " Ms Harney said.
"We have got to emphasise, of course, that with 80,000 pregnancies a year, this is still one of the safest places in the world to give birth,"she said.
"Ireland has a terrific record.and I think we have to be mindful of that."
Dozens of women have contacted helplines set up by the HSE in the wake of the miscarriage misdiagnosis controversy.
It emerged on Tuesday that Melissa Redmond from Donabate, Dublin, was prescribed an abortifacient after an initial scan at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda in July 2009 showed no foetal heartbeat. However, before taking the drugs and acting on her own instinct that she was still pregnant, she sought another scan from her GP who discovered the baby was alive. Her son Michael was born in March.
Several other women across the State have since come forward saying were it not for them also insisting on second scans, their children might not be alive today.
