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Tonight on Prime Time, a special RTÉ Investigates report reveals an investigation is underway at one of the country’s largest hospitals after it was discovered multiple baby organs were sent abroad for incineration without the knowledge or consent of their parents.

During the late 1990s hundreds of families were horrified to discover the organs of their deceased children were removed and retained by Irish hospitals following post-mortem without their knowledge or permission. The public outcry led to the establishment of four separate inquiries, including the publication of the 2009 Willis report, an independent audit which found almost 21,500 organs of deceased patients had been retained at hospitals and universities across the State.

Almost 20 years later, in April 2019, Cork couple Leona Bermingham and Glenn Callanan were overjoyed to discover they were expecting twins. However, at their 16 week scan they were given some bad news, there was complications with one of the twins. On the 18th Sept 2019 Leona and Glenn’s twin boys, Lee & Lewis, were delivered at 33 weeks by emergency c-section at Cork University Maternity Hospital. Hours later baby Lee sadly died. Because of the circumstances of baby Lee’s death, Leona & Glenn were encouraged to agree to a post-mortem.

In mid-May 2020, Leona received an unexpected call from Cork University Maternity Hospital to say that the organs that they retained belonging to Lee had been incinerated and they wouldn’t be able to get them back.

Six months after they received the phone call to tell them Lee’s organs had been incinerated, Cork University Maternity Hospital eventually arranged to meet with Leona and Glenn. They were horrified to be told it was baby Lee’s brain that they kept and that the brain was incinerated abroad in Antwerp in Belgium.

Mother Leona: “My son’s brain went into a bin, as if it was a piece of rubbish, you put rubbish in a bin, why would you put my beautiful son’s brain into a bin.”

But Leona and Glenn were not the only family affected. Documentation released to them under Freedom of Information legislation reveals the organs of a total of 18 babies were sent to Belgium for incineration without the knowledge or consent of their bereaved parents.

“It is like a double trauma for the family, they have lost a baby in very sad circumstances and then to learn subsequently that their baby’s brain has been incinerated is so traumatic. There’s a big difference between burying or cremating an organ and incinerating it with clinical waste which could include the likes of dressings or needles.” Rachael Liston, the family’s solicitor.

Revealed in tonight’s report, internal hospital correspondence shows mortuary staff were aware in early 2020 that its burial plot at St Mary’s Cemetery in Curraghkippane was full and staff were “… unable to secure appropriate burial space for internment of organs…” elsewhere – while they decided cremation was not an option. The result was that multiple baby organs which had been released by the pathology department following post-mortem lay in storage in the hospital’s morgue – in some cases for several months.

Then in March 2020 with the arrival of the coronavirus and the possibility of increased deaths, space needed to be freed up in the mortuary at Cork University Hospital. As a result a decision was made to send the organs for incineration. In all, organs and tissue from 18 babies were incinerated in Belgium across two days in late March and early April 2020.

In mid-May 2020 hospital management sent an incident report to the Department of Health. It’s understood management did not rate the incident as serious, however they did express concerns about adverse publicity for the hospital if it came to public attention. Senior medical staff at the hospital disputed those comments and wrote to the HSE stating there was a significant risk for parental distress. In a statement, the South/South West Hospital Group said it refuted any suggestion it was more concerned with adverse publicity.

With regard to post-mortem practices in hospitals nationally, the Dept of Health has told RTÉ Investigates “The HSE will now confirm… that they are in compliance with the HSE’s Standards… for Post-mortem Examinations 2012.”

The South/South West Hospital Group has confirmed to RTÉ it has commissioned an investigation into the events that led to the incineration of baby organs. 17 months after the incident first came to the attention of hospital management, the review is only at an early stage.

Watch the full RTÉ Investigates report on Prime Time tonight, Tuesday at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.

Read More on RTÉ.ie here.