HEALTH MINISTER, Stephen Donnelly (FF) has said he is not ruling out a statutory inquiry into the death of Shannon teenager, Aoife Johnston.
Aoife Johnston died at University Hospital Limerick in December 2022 after suffering from meningitis-related sepsis. She was left for more than 16 hours without antibiotics.
Former Chief Justice Frank Clarke wrote a report which said that her death was “almost certainly avoidable”.
The solicitor for Aoife Johnson’s parents Carol and James said the family wanted a statutory inquiry which would make findings of fact, and could make adverse findings against individuals.
Speaking this week, Minister for Health, Donnelly said he wanted to speak directly with Aoife’s parents to discuss the case with them and that he was not ruling out a statutory inquiry .
Minister Donnelly stated, “Solicitors sometimes talk about statutory inquiries and talk about them like they will resolve all of the problems and answer all of the questions. There is a statutory inquiry into the Grace case and that has been running for six years and they have yet to publish their first report into phase one. It is a very legalistic process and they don’t always give people what they want.”
Senior partner Damien Tansey SC, who represents Aoife Johnston’s family, said, “They (Aoife’s parents) certainly do want a statutory inquiry”.
Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) had been one of the first to call for such an inquiry. “The Johnston family and the people of the Mid-West deserve answers. In this country, justice must prevail, we must get answers when things go wrong, particularly terribly wrong like it did here. We typically get that but right now people are pointing fingers at each other and the noise goes on but the Johnston family’s entitlement to truth and justice is ignored. This noise instead needs to be filled with clarity and closure for her family. In filling it, we send a clear message, set a new standard for that hospital that bad practise won’t be tolerated and that, in turn, will lead to a better, safer hospital going forward. If we get to there, it will be an additional legacy for Aoife. At least then we can say that while her death should have been avoided, what came out of it made this hospital a better place for everyone else across the region,” he said.
