Dublin child deaths being treated as murder

27 January 2020

By Shane Harrison

BBC NI Dublin correspondent

Irish police are treating as murder the deaths of three children found in their home in County Dublin.

The bodies of Conor, 9, Darragh, 7 and Carla McGinley, 3, were discovered in their house on Friday evening in Newcastle.

A taxi driver found their mother, Deirdre Morley, in a disorientated state on the street.

He took her home and called the emergency services who arrived at the scene 15 minutes later.

The children's father, Andrew McGinley, also arrived around the same time.

Inside they found a note advising only members of the emergency services should go upstairs.

Toxicology tests

There they discovered the bodies of the three children apparently unconscious and unresponsive but with no visible signs of violence.

Gardaí (Irish police) are not releasing the post-mortem examination results for operational reasons and are awaiting the results of toxicology tests.

Their mother was taken to Tallaght Hospital where her condition was initially described as critical but she is now said to be in a grave condition.

It is understood she will survive and detectives will want to question her.

She had been on extended sick leave because of stress from her job as a nurse at the National Children's Hospital in Crumlin.

It is understood that she had not displayed any sign that she was a risk to herself or her children.

Gardaí say they are not looking for anyone else.

The children's father is being comforted by family and friends while police have appointed a liaison officer to work with the extended family.

The Irish child and family agency, Túsla, is offering services, including counselling, to the friends and school mates of Conor, Darragh and Carla.

At Sunday Mass in the village, parish priest Fr Kevin Doherty spoke of the "darkness" that had come over Newcastle.

But he added that out of that darkness people had to somehow find light in the kindness of others.