IT IS NOT WORTH THE PAPER IT’S WRITTEN ON
Andrew disappointed recommendations ‘lack detail’
THE dad of three children killed by their mother said a HSE review into the tragedy lacked “detail”, was “disappointing” and said “nothing has changed” since their deaths.
Andrew Mcginley spoke to the Irish Mirror ahead of the fourth anniversary of Conor, Darragh, and Carla’s passing, after they were found dead in their south Dublin home on January 24, 2020.
The children’s mum Deirdre Morley suffocated them while Mr Mcginley was away on a business trip in Cork.
But she was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity following a trial in 2021 and committed to the Central Mental Hospital.
It emerged in court that Ms Morley told gardai that she had been suffering from depression for several months before killing Conor, nine, Darragh, seven, and Carla, three, and had contemplated suicide.
She suffered a breakdown in July 2019 and spent time in St Patrick’s Hospital in Dublin.
It also emerged in court that both Clondalkin Mental Health Services and the Swiftbrook Medical Centre had written to St Patrick’s Hospital requesting that she be readmitted due to concerns about her mental health.
Following the tragedy, Mr Mcginley called for a HSE review into her care and said when he received the long-awaited report it wasn’t good enough. He said: “Had I asked them to do a review of the
Titanic, they would have said that a ship set sail in cold weather, sank and some people died.
“It just lacks details. At the end of the treatment they were reviewing – three children died… I would have thought every decision would’ve been analysed and thoroughly reviewed and it just doesn’t seem to be.
“There is no ‘why was this decision made.’ It was lacking an awful lot of details, it was disappointing. It lacked analysis. You can’t say a decision was made and leave it at that.” He added: “The review is finished, it’s finalised.
“There are 15 recommendations, and most of them are looking at a working group to discuss this or to look at that.
“We know ourselves, recommendations are not really worth the paper they’re written on.”
Andrew also said his children would still be alive today if he had been fully informed about how mentally ill his wife was.
He said he fully understands the need for patient confidentiality but
I’m fighting for the right of a co-parent to be fully informed
stressed it needed to be breached if other people would be impacted.
His call echoes that of Una Butler whose husband John killed their girls Ella, six, and Zoe, two, on November 16, 2010. John, 41, then took his own life.
She has long campaigned to allow a partner or spouse to be involved in the treatment of a family member suffering with their mental health – especially if children live in a household.
Mr Mcginley said: “The children would be alive today if I was fully informed, fully advised and fully supported.”
He continued: “I do think that a co-parent should have an immediate r ight to be informed, advised, and supported and Una
Butler asked for the same when her children Zoe and Ella died. Had Una been listened to then Conor,
Darragh, and Carla would have been alive today.
Deirdre was raising concerns about being a parent, about being around the children, and I believe at one stage she said to her clinician she didn’t feel safe around the children. I was never told that.
“So decisions were made by clinicians at that time without any involvement from me as the co-parent.
“I’m fighting for the right of a co-parent to be fully informed, fully advised, and fully supported.”
He added: “I fully support patient confidentiality – however, when clinicians begin to make decisions that impact people other than their patients then I think patient confidentiality should be breached.
“Nobody has a right to make decisions about me or at the time my children without my input so I do feel strongly that patient confidentiality should have been breached.
“These decisions were impacting me and the children and we had no involvement, no knowledge, no nothing – it’s just not right. The current process is not right.”
He also wants the scope of the inquest to be widened to also examine the diagnosis and treatment of Ms Morley’s mental illness before the tragedy.
The coroner adjourned the hearing last year to allow all relevant parties to make submissions before ruling on the scope of the inquest.
Andrew said: “I would believe that there needs to be an extended scope because I can see issues and decisions that I would challenge over the course of the treatment that would, in my opinion, have saved the lives of Conor, Darragh, and Carla.
“I would feel what could come out of the inquest is recommendations that would help save the lives of children in the future and would also prevent people from going through what I went through over the last few years.”
There are currently civil cases involving the HSE before the courts in relation to the tragedy.