Hi °C | Lo °C PUBLIC Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin has described the leak of the draft report into the death of Savita Halappanavar as "shameful, unacceptable and hurtful".
He insisted that Health Minister Dr James Reilly's department bore no responsibility for the leak, saying that he had not been supplied with any draft copy of the HSE report.
He told the Dail that the pain being experienced by Ms Halappanavar's husband Praveen and family must be unendurable.
And he said that Dr Reilly had conveyed his personal concerns to Mr Halappanavar about the leaking of the report.
"I think it is shameful, it is unacceptable and it is hurtful," he said.
Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald called for a draft copy of the inquiry report to be provided to Praveen Halappanavar.
But Mr Howlin said the report had to be finalised - and the first person who would get a copy would be Mr Halappanavar.
