Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-27
============================================================

Paul Nicholas Gogarty (IND), Dublin Mid-West

I thank the Taoiseach. Mr. McGinley's stated reason for seeking an unrestricted inquest scope is simple and is grounded in the wider public interest to save lives in the future, enable learning that could improve mental healthcare and treatment, strengthen diagnosis, ensure robust management of prescription medication, reinforce the need for co-parents to be informed and supported, and most importantly, ensure warning signs and risks to children are recognised before lives are lost. I do not believe there is a parent in the whole country who would accept an inquest being limited in its scope. Other, similar cases were not so limited.
The role of the State Claims Agency in overseeing the HSE needs to be fully investigated. The role of the HSE in trying to limit this particular investigation has implications right now. It is current, it is not legacy and it needs to be looked at. Not following up on the process risks the perception of a State body represented at coroner inquests under agreement with the State Claims Agency being accused of deliberately attempting to avoid scrutiny and, in fact, working against the common good and the public interest. This needs follow-up. Will the Taoiseach or his office meet with Mr. McGinley to further pursue this? There are public interest issues that need to be addressed.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27