Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Fáiltím roimh an Aire Stáit. Táim ag ardú cás iontach brónach, cás Aibha Conroy, as Gabhla i gConamara, a bhásaigh go tragóideach cúpla bliain ó shin. I am raising a very sad case with the Minister of State, the case of Aibha Conroy, of which she may be well aware. It was the subject of a number of pieces on "Prime Time" recently.

Aibha was the daughter of John and Kathleen Conroy and in 2010 they noted that she was not well. She was brought to University Hospital Galway with suspected hypoglycaemia. She was discharged after a couple of days and was brought in again a couple of months later. She was seen by the same doctor, had a similar episode and was discharged once more. A little later there was an outpatient appointment where her mother raised issues. She was very concerned about her daughter's health and her situation. Perhaps a month or so later the child was hospitalised again. She was in a very serious state and was transferred to Temple Street hospital, resulting in her death, at six years of age, on 14 December 2011.

This was obviously very traumatic for the family concerned, but the issues I am raising now relate to the issues they have had since then in trying to find out what happened and to bring some kind of closure to the situation. They made complaints to the Medical Council in 2012, as far as I understand, and they felt there was a case to be heard. They were moving forward to try to have that case heard with the Medical Council and then the Corbally High Court ruling kicked in, which would have changed the terms of reference of any hearing that could have been held. They felt their hearing was then fast-tracked by the Medical Council and a finding was made before the Corbally High Court decision was made and, therefore, they are not happy that they got a proper hearing.

They felt they had no other recourse to justice than to go down the route of the Coroner's Court, so in the last two weeks, the coroner returned a verdict of medical misadventure in Aibha's case. The family said at that stage that they felt vindicated in their campaign for answers regarding Aibha's care and treatment during her short life. The coroner said the verdict of medical misadventure takes into account risk factors that arose in evidence during the inquest into Aibha's death and he identified the lack of critical blood samples to determine whether Aibha had an underlying metabolic or endocrinal issue as a risk factor and noted that the cortisol test could not be relied upon. The coroner also said there were only two verdict options open to him: medical misadventure or a narrative verdict. He is quoted in the media as saying:

At inquests we are not concerned with what might have happened, we are concerned with what happened. The critical tests were not performed.

The solicitor thanked the coroner on behalf of the family, because it was a very long sitting of the Coroner's Court. I think it was the longest one in the history of the State.

The solicitor talks about the Conroys' challenge being akin to climbing Mount Everest. They really felt they were battling against the system to find answers. Even after all that, they bear no ill-will towards any of the medics. The solicitor said at the time that the family knew none of the doctors or nurses intended this to happen. It seems to point to a systemic issue, that where certain tests were done or not done, or results should have been picked up on, that did not happen. I spoke to Kathleen Conroy recently and the family really wants to make sure something like this cannot happen again, that the systems at the Department and the Minister are taking on board what the coroner has said in his findings that the systems issues that were there, which may have led to the death of Aibha are being sorted out and that these types of things cannot happen again.They will probably not rest assured until they see that is the case and that no other family is placed in the same position as them. I look forward to the response of the Minister of State.