Eithne Griffin (51), from Castlegregory, Co Kerry, gave birth to her third child, Brendan, on 16 May 1983 in St Catherine's Hospital, Tralee, now Kerry General Hospital.

He died suddenly when he was just one day old and a postmortem recorded that the cause of death was bronchopneumonia.

However, through correspondence with Kerry General Hospital, Griffin has discovered that her son's brain was removed during the postmortem and stored in a solution for six weeks before being buried in the grounds of St Catherine's.

"I was physically ill for two weeks and in shock when I found out, " Griffin told the Sunday Tribune. "I thought I buried my whole baby. To discover that his brain was gone was just horrific. I still don't know where it is and I want answers."

Griffin first realised there were inconsistencies in her son's medical records when she went back to Kerry General in 1992 for the birth of her daughter. On her chart, it said that Brendan had died from cot death, not broncho-pneumonia. When the organ retention scandal reached the hospital in 2004, she decided to investigate the inconsistencies further and after several requests for information, Kerry General responded that November.

In a letter seen by the Sunday Tribune, the hospital's general manager wrote that 16 tissue samples were taken from Brendan's lungs, heart, bladder and liver and were stored in the pathology department of the hospital. The letter then went on to say that the brain was retained in a solution for six weeks before it was examined. "Following completion of the examination of the brain, it was respectfully buried in a grave on the grounds of St Catherine's."

The hospital admitted it did not have a written record to confirm this, but said that at the time it was "hospital policy that foetuses, stillborns and organs were buried in a consecrated grave in St Catherine's".

"We were told Brendan died at 7.45am, " recalled Griffin.

"Half an hour later, my husband was asked to sign a postmortem form and then he was gone. I didn't see my baby from when I was in the nursery with him the night before he died until he was laid out in his coffin. I wasn't allowed to see him.

It all makes sense now."

The hospital said it wished to "acknowledge the pain and upset that has been caused by the recent awareness on organ retention". A spokesman for the Health Service Executive Southern Area said he could not comment on the possibility of other organ retention cases because of a confidentiality agreement with the Madden inquiry. "The HSE Southern Area and Kerry General Hospital have cooperated fully with the inquiry, " he said.

Since her discovery, Griffin has become involved with Parents for Justice, the group that represents parents whose children's organs were retained by hospitals.

After years of ill-health, she has started an acupuncture and massage clinic, but says the circumstances of her baby's death will never leave her.

"This has had a tremendous impact on my life and that of my family, " she said. "I fell apart after Brendan's death and couldn't pull myself up.

My marriage ended and I had chronic fatigue and depression for years. Getting that letter from the hospital just brought the whole thing around full circle. I need closure now and I'm going to try and get it. I think my family deserves that."