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HEALTH MINISTER STEPHEN Donnelly has said he is “wary” of a Statutory Inquiry into Aoife Johnston’s death but would “not rule anything out”.
The 16-year-old died of sepsis after waiting on a chair for 12 hours in University Hospital Limerick’s emergency department in December 2022.
Long wait times due to overcrowding and a breakdown in communication were among the issues found to have likely contributed to her death.
A report into her death by former chief justice Frank Clarke, published last month, found that Aoife died in circumstances that “were almost certainly avoidable”.
However, Clarke noted in the report that the terms of reference did not allow for the making of adverse findings against individuals or resolving conflicts of fact, contrary to what Aoife’s family had called for.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, Stephen Donnelly said he has met with Aoife Johnston’s parents and that “there is an open offer to meet them again”.
“I want to hear from them exactly how they’re feeling, and what more they want,” said Donnelly.
“I will meet them again and again, and Bernard Gloster, the chief executive of the HSE, has said he will meet them again.
“I want to listen to [Aoife’s parents] Carol and James, and I want to understand what they want, and then let’s take it from there.”
The family’s solicitor Damien Tansey has said Carol and James want the establishment of a Statutory Inquiry into Aoife’s death.
When this was put to Donnelly, the Health Minister said: “We know that’s what their solicitor want, I want to talk to Carol and James and listen to them.”
Donnelly added: “My concern is, solicitors sometimes talk about statutory inquiries like they will solve all of the problems and answer all of the questions.”
He pointed to the Grace case and said: “That Statutory Inquiry has now been running for six years, and they have yet to publish their first report into phase one.
“Unfortunately, what happens with statutory inquiries is, it’s a very legalistic process, and they don’t always give what people want.”
The Grace case concerns a young woman with profound intellectual disabilities who was left in a foster home in the Waterford area for almost 20 years despite a succession of sexual and physical abuse allegations.
It was to be completed in May 2019, but was last month granted a further three-month extension, with details of the report expected it be made public on 12 December.
However, Donnelly added that he is “not ruling anything in or out”.
“I’m not ruling anything out, Bernard Gloster isn’t ruling anything out, I’m just wary of some of the outcomes, or not yet, from some of the statutory inquiries we’ve seen.”
While the report from chief justice Frank Clarke couldn’t make adverse findings against individuals, Donnelly said it “was hard hitting and the chief executive of the HSE has initiated several disciplinary procedures on that already”.
Six people are facing a disciplinary process in relation to Aoife Johnston’s death.
HSE CEO Bernard Gloster last month said he will be able to confirm when the process is concluded, whether there were findings against people and whether sanctions were applied – but he said he would not be able to confirm who is the subject of those processes.
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