The Taoiseach has appealed publicly and directly to Praveen Halappanavar to meet with the chairman of the inquiry into the death of his wife. 

Enda Kenny has also again dismissed calls for a full public inquiry into the death of Savita Halappanavar. 

The 31-year-old died at University College Hospital in Galway last month from blood poisoning after suffering a miscarriage. 

Lawyers for Mr. Halappanavar said their client will not cooperate with the inquiry or meet the chairman.

He wants a full public inquiry instead.

Direct appeal

Mr. Kenny has described the chairman of the inquiry Professor Alkumaran as a man of eminence and integrity.

This is despite concerns from Independent Senator Ronan Mullen that he is an advocate of abortion  having published pro-abortion views in a 2009 academic paper.

The Taoiseach says an independent inquiry would not conclude quickly and he urged Mr. Halappanavar to engage with the inquiry.

"When I hear the legal advice this morning that a public sworn inquiry would be conducted inside 7 days - this, from our experience in this country, is clearly not the case" he said.

"So I would appeal to Mr. Halappanavar to meet with the chairman of the investigation team without any prejudice" he added.

But the Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin has called for a public inquiry and criticised the Taoiseach for not meeting Mr. Halappanavar face to face.

"It"s a natural thing to do, Taoiseach - to make contact...with a situation where a husband has lost his wife through very tragic and rare circumstances" he said.

"And I reckon Taoiseach that if such contact had been made, we might not be where we are now" he added.

But Mr. Kenny said the reason he had not made direct contact with him is because the man said he wanted contact to be made through his lawyers only.