Health authorities in Ireland could face legal action from parents because of a policy preventing the collection of “vital” blood stem cells at birth, a consultant has claimed.

Professor Colin McGuckin, an Irish-born stem cell specialist, said the country was being “left behind” because hospitals were denying parents a service that could be used to treat dozens of diseases in later life.

Currently no Irish public hospital collects cord blood cells. Only private hospitals will agree to the procedure, and even then the cells have to be sent abroad to store.

Cord blood cells are similar to bone marrow in that they can be used to create any type of cell in the body. The blood is taken from babies’ umbilical cords and stored for use in treating conditions such as leukaemia.

Some parents want their children’s cells stored at birth to guarantee access to certain treatments later in their lives. The storage is controversial. Some doctors argue that medical developments which require the cells are still at an early stage, and that parents may be paying for a service they do not need.

McGuckin, president of Novus Sanguis, an international research consortium on cord blood and adult stem cell research, said the procedure did not involve “a guaranteed cure, but can be hugely beneficial”.

He said the potential to treat diseases such as cerebral palsy, type-one diabetes and different forms of cancer was enormous.

“In Ireland there are no public or private cord blood banks. We are being left way behind the rest of Europe and the world.”

Michael Doherty, the managing director of Medicare Health and Living, the only company in Ireland authorised to store cord blood abroad, claimed the service was “a form of health insurance for the future”.

He said 40% of the company’s 1,500 clients since 2001 had been healthcare professionals. One Dublin private hospital harvests the blood on behalf of the company.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) said that in cases where consultants identified a risk to a child in later life, hospitals would agree to harvest the blood cells. However, parents do not have this option.

Tim Farrelly, from Galway, was refused permission to have cord blood collected from his newborn baby last March. “I think it was unethical. This blood could have saved my son’s life in the next 20 to 30 years but we don’t have that option now,” he said.

Aengus O’Marcaigh, a consultant haematologist in Crumlin children’s hospital, said children suffering from leukaemia had been treated successfully in Ireland using cord blood cells. The resources to set up an Irish bank were not available, he pointed out, but cord blood could be brought in from elsewhere to treat diseases.

O’Marcaigh said that in cases where a child’s own cord blood cells were believed to be useful, the treatments involved were only in the trial stage. “Until it is proven to be helpful it is not worth the money,” he said.

McGuckin, however, said the treatments referred to as “experimental” had been shown to have potential. He argued that all Irish hospitals should be storing cord blood. “It’s a bit silly that Ireland is not planning to set up the banks. Even people in Slovenia with a population of 2m have one.”

The HSE said it was aware that staff at some hospitals had procured cord blood on occasions for parents, which was then stored privately. It had ordered this practice to stop because staff were not covered by insurance.

Public cord blood banks are available in Britain and in many European countries. The health and children department confirmed it had no plans to set up cord blood banks but would “keep developments under review”.

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