A TD has called for an examination of why the HSE sought to limit the scope of an inquest into the deaths of three children killed by their mother six years ago.
Conor (9), Darragh (7) and Carla McGinley (3) were killed by their mother Deirdre Morley in January 2020, who was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
Independent TD Paul Gogarty raised the issue in the Dáil and said the verdict had left more questions than answers.
The children’s father Andrew McGinley was in the Dáil visitors’ gallery when the issue was raised during Leaders’ Questions.
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Mr Gogarty said Mr McGinley “has fought tirelessly to have the full circumstances leading up to their deaths properly investigated”.
“He sought detailed fact-finding processes at their inquest, including the examination of the treatment Ms Morley received in the two years before the children died,” he said.
The Dublin Midwest TD said the coroner limited the scope of the inquest following correspondence with the HSE and “from the consultants in St Patrick’s Mental Health Services requesting such a limitation”.
Mr Gogarty said he fully respected the independence of the Coroner’s Court, “but when the HSE asks for a limited scope, that request carries weight. And if the effect is to restrict the facts that can be examined then the public is entitled to ask why”.
The Coroners Act prevents findings of civil or criminal liability, but the legislation “does not prevent the coroner from establishing plain facts, including whether protocols were followed, whether procedures failed or whether systemic gaps existed”.
He pointed out the Supreme Court had been clear “coroners have a public duty to allay rumours or suspicion and to highlight circumstances which, if unaddressed, could lead to further deaths”.
Calling for a commitment to action in the McGinley case, he said further information had to be brought into the public domain and it “may require widening the remit of coroners or require the Attorney General to reconfirm that such scope in the public interest already exists”.
He said “it certainly requires an examination as to why the HSE sought to limit this inquest and whether that constitutes undue interference contrary to the public interest.
“Families who lose loved ones in these horrific circumstances must be able to trust that every single relevant fact will be examined because transparency and accountability are about learning lessons.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “I will seek an answer as to why the HSE took the position it did. The coroner has clear powers under the Act in terms of organising the conduct of the inquest.”
Mr Martin said the Minister for Justice met Mr McGinley in later November last year. “We will reflect on what he has articulated very passionately.”
It was a “very challenging area in respect of the rights of all concerned, but also the issues of mental health,” he said.
Mr Martin acknowledged there are issues “in respect of how we, as a society, deal with familicide”.
In recent times, “we are witnessing parents coming forward or the family coming forward with very serious issues and who feel that their concerns and issues are not being listened to by those in authority.
“On the other hand, there are also very clear issues of an ethical kind that are not immediately reconcilable with the need for 100 per cent transparency.”
The Taoiseach added: “It is not simple; it is very challenging, but we have an obligation to listen and then to act in the best way we can to try to meet the concerns of those who have lost their children in horrific and very traumatic circumstances.”
