Andrew McGinley hopes HSE review will shed light on his children's deaths
Children Mcginley With Conor, And His Andrew Carla Darragh,
The father of three children tragically killed by their mentally ill mother hopes that a HSE review into the case, due to be published in the coming weeks, will explain what led to their deaths.
Andrew McGinley, father of Conor, nine, Darragh, seven, and Carla, three, hopes that the first draft will be issued at the end of March or start of April.
“I know every horrible detail about how my children died but I still need to understand more about why. I hope this review will provide some of those answers," he said.
Mr McGinley has been campaigning for changes to mental health policies after his children were killed at the family home in Newcastle, Co Dublin, in January 2020.
In May 2021, Deirdre Morley was found not guilty of their murder by reason of insanity.
Mr McGinley believes that if he had been included in his wife’s care by mental health professionals, he would have had insight into her condition and their three children would still be alive today.
“The anniversary of Conor, Darragh, and Carla’s deaths was on 24 January and I woke up that day quite angry that the campaigning I’ve been doing has fallen on deaf ears.
“I’ve spoken to everybody from Mary Bulter, the minister for mental health, down to some of the regional directors for mental health. And children continue to die.
"While no change is being made, I dread picking up my phone to read the news headlines in case there’s been another death. And there have been more deaths. Unless changes are made, deaths will continue to happen.
“I want to make sure that what happened to us does not happen to anyone else, so as long as I have breath in my body I will continue to campaign for change."
One bright light in Mr McGinley’s life is that the charity he founded in his son's name, As Darragh Did, has been chosen for this year’s Galway Cycle.
The fundraising cycle could provide an important boost to the charity, which supports local community clubs, societies, and projects.
The 2023 Galway Cycle will be hosted by Maynooth Students for Charity and will run over the weekend of March 31 to April 2.
Mr McGinley appealed for people to cycle in and sponsor this year’s event, which will see hundreds of cyclists travel from Maynooth to Galway and back. It has taken place every year since 1987, with the exception of 2020, and raised almost €2m for children’s charities.
“I was delighted that As Darragh Did was chosen by them," Mr McGinley said.
“Of all the colleges and universities in Ireland, Conor and Darragh had been with me to Maynooth. So it was a little bittersweet.”
He encouraged people in the south and west of Ireland to apply for funds to bolster their communities through As Darragh Did.
“We get a lot of applications from the Midlands, north west and Dublin. We’d love to see more from the south, south west and west. It’s to help clubs, groups and societies to get people involved as Darragh did, because he was involved in everything locally here.
“I get very emotional when I go out to some of the projects and see his name on a hurley or a jersey, it fills me with immense pride. I can only imagine that he’d think, ‘wow, all these people now know my name.’
"The projects I do in the kids' names — As Darragh Did, Snowman for Carla, and Conor’s Clips — help keep the kids’ names alive, and let people know what fantastic kids they were.”
For more information or to register to take part in the event, see galwaycycle.ie and asdarraghdid.ie.