An Oireachtas committee will today be told there is "no evidence" the Department of Health secretly compiled dossiers on children with autism involved in legal action.

It follows allegations included in an RTÉ Investigates programme.

The documentary, broadcast in March, reported that the Department of Health had been using data from consultants to build dossiers on the families of autistic children who have taken cases against the State.

It said this was done without the knowledge or consent of the parents.

The Oireachtas Health Committee is examining the allegations made in the documentary and the Secretary General of the Department of Health, Robert Watt, will appear before it this morning.

He is set to argue that his department "never gathered sensitive medical and educational information on children involved in court cases" in the manner portrayed.

He will also say there is "no evidence" the department was secretly compiling dossiers on children with autism involved in special needs litigation.

Mr Watt will tell the committee that, as a co-defendant in litigation cases, the Department of Health may have documents on file that form part of the proceedings, but there is no evidence it was compiling information on families.

He will insist that there is no evidence the department gathered information beyond that which it was instructed to as part of the normal defence of a litigation case.

The Secretary General will tell the committee that he welcomes an inquiry from the Data Protection Commission and that the department has appointed a support liaison officer to engage with the 29 families involved.

Reporting from Eimear McKeown