Legislation “absolutely failed” three children killed by their mother, and the State owes it to their memory to reform the law, the Seanad has been told. Independent senator Aubrey McCarthy said that “ambiguity” across a variety of acts had “catastrophic” consequences for Conor, Darragh, and Carla McGinley. Their father, Andrew McGinley, believes they could still be alive today if he had been informed about basic safeguarding issues related to the mental health of his wife, who was being cared for by HSE community mental health services. Ms Morley, who had been due to be transferred to a secure residential mental health unit around the time she killed her children, was — Mr McGinley later found out — suicidal and had said she did not want to be around her own children. Minister of state Jennifer Murnane O’Connor said Sharing the Vision, the national mental health policy, “underpins the support for family involvement”.

Source: Irish Examiner February 23, 2026 08:30 UTC