This really is a tragic case. I don’t think it’s enough in this day and age for the Gardai to contact the local priest and seemingly pass all responsibility over to him. The undertaker would appear to have done everything she possibly could by informing the Gardai straight away after they visited her. You’d also have to question what advice or assurances the HSE gave the Gardai too. This comes only a year or two after Sharon Grace drowned herself and her two young girls in Wexford Harbour after she was told by the HSE a social worker could only be provided between 9am and 5pm on Monday-Friday after she turned up at a local hospital on a Saturday morning pleading to see one. There is the option that the Gardai can take custody of children if they’re deemed to be in danger until such time a social worker/HSE representative is available and that’s probably what should have been done in this case. From today’s Indo:
Couple ‘plotted killings’
Gardai believe tragic parents formed murder/suicide pact
TRAGIC parents Adrian and Ciara Dunne may have formed a suicide pact before killing their two little girls.
This was one of the main lines of investigation being pursued by gardai last night as the Government ordered an urgent inquiry into the deaths.
Senior officers said they were examining a possible pact as preliminary post mortem findings showed there were no indications that Ciara had put up a struggle before she died.
Toxicology tests will now be carried out to establish if the 24-year-old mother had taken sedatives before she died in the family home at Monageer, Co Wexford, at the weekend.
The results of those tests are not likely to be available for a couple of weeks.
But gardai confirmed there were no defensive marks on Ciara’s body and there were no indications inside the house that she had fought for her life before she was strangled.
Adrian’s devastated mother Mary Dunne (59) said she believed the couple had made a suicide pact.
The grief-stricken grandmother was angry that nobody from the Garda or the HSE had contacted any of their extended family over the weekend.
Ciara’s mother, Marian O’Brien, found out about the deaths while watching TV in a neighbour’s house in Burt, Co Donegal.
The post mortem findings also indicated that daughters Leanne (5) and Shania (3) were smothered and that Adrian had hanged himself.
The Cabinet decided yesterday to establish the inquiry as soon as more details became known.
Minister for Children Brian Lenihan said a full report from the Garda was likely to be delivered within days and the inquiry could be set up next week.
Mr Lenihan has already received a preliminary report from the HSE.
Local officials reported that they were contacted by gardai on Friday and responded by advising them that Leanne and Shania were not on any protection register and were not considered “at risk”.
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy yesterday appointed Supt Pat Mangan, from Kilkenny, to carry out a separate investigation into the force’s handling of the Monageer tragedy.
It also emerged yesterday that Ciara Dunne and the two girls had accompanied Adrian to Cooneys undertakers in New Ross last Friday to make funeral arrangements.
The parents said they wanted the family to be buried side by side and ordered two small white coffins for the children.
They wanted the children to be dressed in Liverpool football jerseys and Dora the Explorer jeans.
Undertaker Frances Cooney became immediately concerned as she knew “Dora” clothes were made only to fit small children.
The family also wanted family friend, Father Richard Redmond, to officiate at their funerals. Last month, Fr Redmond officiated at the funeral of Adrian’s brother, James, who hanged himself.
Ms Cooney immediately contacted a local detective and gave details of the conversation. He urged her to tell Fr Redmond and when he heard her concerns he visited the Dunne house on Friday night.
He spoke with the parents for two hours, while the girls played nearby, and they assured him they did not intend to harm themselves. He relayed those assurances to local garda Supt Peter Finn, who interviewed the priest on Saturday.
Supt Finn also contacted the HSE’s local child care manager who advised that the gardai had the authority under the Child Care Act to remove the children from their parents if they were deemed to be at risk.
However, the gardai can only use these powers in exceptional circumstances and must have firm evidence to substantiate their action. In view of the assessment from the HSE and the conversation with Fr Redmond, gardai believed that evidence was not available.
One of the key questions to be examined by Supt Mangan’s investigation is why the local gardai did not call to the Dunne home on Saturday or Sunday although a garda patrol did visit their housing estate on Sunday morning.
Gardai said last night that the Dunnes had made a number of complaints to them since they moved into the estate last November but that these were related to minor incidents such as groups of children throwing stones.
Mr Lenihan said the aim of the commission of inquiry was to establish whether there had been a systems failure and to learn lessons to avoid such tragedies in the future.
Tom Brady, Edel Kennedy and Sarah Murphy