An inquiry into a complaint against a Co Dublin midwife, and associated legal proceedings, have cost the Irish nursing board more than £500,000 to date, the board has disclosed.
The legal proceedings have not yet concluded and there are three complaints still outstanding.
According to a letter from An Bord Altranais to the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, dated December 6th, the board has spent some £530,430 on a hearing by its Fitness to Practise Committee into a complaint against Ms Ann O Ceallaigh, a domiciliary midwife, of Temple Crescent, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
The letter said the matter has involved 18 days of hearings before the Fitness to Practise Committee, many High Court hearings and one Supreme Court appeal. Two further appeals are pending before the Supreme Court.
The letter also stated that it was "not possible" to predict what the future costs related to the matter would be. As the figure of £530,430 relates only to the legal costs incurred by the board, lawyers yesterday predicted the final costs could be over £1 million.
Four complains have been made against Ms O Ceallaigh - two from the former master of a Dublin maternity hospital and two from the matron of another hospital. Evidence has concluded in the inquiry into one of the complaints and submissions will be heard early next year from both sides.
Ms O Ceallaigh took judicial review proceedings seeking to stop an inquiry into the other three complaints against her on the grounds of absence of due process. She lost that application in the High Court and has appealed to the Supreme Court.
An Bord Altranais has also appealed a High Court ruling last May discharging an injunction granted to the board in August 1997 restraining her from practising. Both of those actions have yet to be heard. The board secured the injunction O Ceallaigh restraining her from practising in August 1997. She successfully applied to vary it on many occasions, and delivered 47 babies from the time it was granted to when it was discharged.
