Families in Ireland are facing “significant difficulties and delays” trying to get answers about the circumstances of their children dying unexpectedly, the Ombudsman for Children has said.
Dr Niall Muldoon said that since his office was established more than 20 years ago, parents have regularly spoken of the “battles they have had to fight” to get information about a child’s death.
He is calling for the introduction of a statutory child death review mechanism, which he said is “the best thing we can do for children and their families as a long-term solution”.
The Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) published a report on Tuesday which included the stories of six families whose children died unexpectedly and who say they have not been able to find out how or why this happened.
“Many families simply want lessons learned from the tragic death of their child to prevent other families experiencing their pain,” Dr Muldoon said.
The National Review Panel (NRP) was established in August 2010 to review deaths and serious incidents involving children in care. However, it does not have any statutory powers some 15 years later. The OCO said the existing review mechanisms are “ad hoc”, have no legislative or statutory basis and have no compellability or enforcement powers.
The programme for government includes a commitment to introduce a child death review mechanism.
“It is now time to come through on this commitment and to address the failures that exist within the current system,” Dr Muldoon said.
In the meantime, he added, there needs to be changes to the current system for recent or any future unexpected child deaths.
Dr Muldoon said there is no definitive figure on the number of children in Ireland who die unexpectedly each year. The National Office of Clinical Audit (Noca) indicates that 1,490 children and young people aged 18 and younger died between 2019 and 2023, with no “central register” for the collection of “comprehensive data” on children’s deaths.
“This is part of the problem as, without data, no lessons can be learned to prevent further deaths, and it is one of our key recommendations in our report,” Dr Muldoon said.
Among the cases highlighted in the report was that of Aoife Winterlich (14), who died 10 years ago after being swept into the sea at Hook Head, Co Wexford during a scouting trip.
Her mother, Anne Winterlich, settled a legal action against Scouting Ireland last year over Aoife’s death. Ms Winterlich had to take a civil case and still faced numerous delays by the organisation before it finally admitted liability.
Despite receiving a copy of a report commissioned by Scouting Ireland in 2020, she said she still has unanswered questions about what occurred on the day of her daughter’s death.
She believes there needs to be a mechanism that is “clear and accessible” for parents and families to be supported through the tragedy of losing a child. She said it needs to “address the hard questions that inevitably arise in that context to learn how future tragedies can be avoided”.
Another case highlighted in the report was that of Paul*, who died aged 16 in 2021 while in State care. His case was reviewed internally by Tusla and referred to the NRP. However, Paul’s mother is still “anxiously awaiting” the outcome of the review nearly four years after his death, the report says.
(*pseudonym used)
