Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Richard O'Donoghue (II), Limerick County

Yesterday, there was a development on something that has been brought up in this Dáil in recent years. Jessica Sheedy died at 18 years of age in Limerick. She was admitted to hospital on 8 May 2018 for an operation and died on 11 May 2018. A Medical Council fitness to practise inquiry found that three allegations of professional misconduct and ten allegations of poor professional performance made against Dr. Lal were proven beyond doubt. Dr. Lal also accepts other allegations of professional misconduct were proven. I have brought up this issue many times in here. I know Ann and Jimmy personally. I was at their wedding. It has taken eight years to bring this case to where it is today. I thank the present management at University Hospital Limerick for allowing this to happen. I cannot say I have the same respect for the previous management.
I will let the courts deal with what Dr. Lal did to the Sheedy family, to Jessica Sheedy's friends and to the wider community. However, I believe there should now be a criminal investigation into the CEO at the time of this misconduct. There are allegations of tampering with evidence and misleading an independent inquiry by not providing all documentation required for that inquiry to make a decision. There have been two independent inquiries but it is only now that all of the information has come out. It is alleged that staff members were silenced and made to sign non-disclosure agreements to protect Dr. Lal, who has now admitted misconduct. For eight years, people have been put at risk because of a cover-up in the hospital to protect Dr. Lal. That is what we are on about. There has been nothing about the patients who have gone in there. It is a learning hospital. If best practice was followed and something went wrong, you would put your hands up and fix what is wrong because it is a hospital.
It is a learning place. It was shown that there was no proper person doing the operation. They should never have been allowed to do the operation in the first place. By covering it up for eight years, how many people have been seriously injured or have died under that same management? There should be a criminal investigation of the then CEO.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21