*The late Aoife Johnston.
AN INDEPENDENT REPORT into the death of Shannon teenager Aoife Johnston will not be completed on time.
At the end of December, CEO of the HSE, Benard Gloster received a systems analysis report into the death of sixteen year old Aoife Johnston at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) in December 2022 and he confirmed that an independent further investigation led by retired Chief Justice Frank Clarke would take place.
On January 2nd, the HSE published the Terms of Reference for this independent investigation which stated, “the Independent Investigator is requested to conduct the investigation process within a period of eight weeks or as soon thereafter as practicable”.
Ten weeks on the findings of this investigation have not yet been furnished to the HSE’s CEO.
Clare TD, Michael McNamara (IND) raising the matter in Dáil Éireann stated, “The political system drifts in and out of outrage with regard to UHL but the situation doesn’t really change very much there. The last time there was this level of focus was when the systems SAR report into the death of Aoife Johnston was leaked or parts of it were leaked, in response to that the CEO of the HSE appointed the former Chief Justice Frank Clarke to carry out an investigation into the death, that was to report within eight weeks or as soon as possible thereafter, the eight weeks are up now, has the report been compiled, will it be published or will anything be done to ensure that this is not repeated”.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney (FG) responded to say the terms of reference were “only agreed relatively recently”. He said, “Obviously Frank Clarke is an extremely competent individual, I’ll get you a timeline for the publication of the report from the Minister”.
Speaking on Morning Ireland on Thursday, Gloster said, “I asked Mr Justice Clarke to assist me with that. It’s a very complex matter and he has agreed and I am very grateful to him. I literally have not engaged with him around his timeline because I want to ensure his independence.
“I set a timeline at the term of reference to be about eight weeks. I expect that after eight weeks, which is coming up shortly, Mr Justice Clarke will say that he needs a little more time but I expect that to be only weeks, rather than months,” Mr Gloster added.
Mr Gloster said he is “very conscious” of being sensitive to Aoife’s family, whom he has met. “I am very conscious for them, we are coming up to pre-inquest stage and so on so I am very sensitive to that but Mr Justice Clarke will report to me and when I have his report, I’ll consider that appropriately.”
