THE GRANDMOTHER of a boy aged 16 who died after inhaling butane gas just 15 metres from the North Eastern Health Board children’s home he was sent to live in has called for his death to be one of those reviewed by the independent group set up by Minister for Children Barry Andrews.
However, nobody from the now HSE North East or the Minister’s office has been in contact with Eilis Gartland since the inquest into the death of her grandson Shane Hafford in 2005, and she does not know whether his death will be reviewed.
“All I ever got off the health board was a big pot of tea and some sandwiches. No one apologised, and if he was alive today he would be living here with me,” she said this weekend.
Shane Hafford died on the evening of April 14th, 2003, in an apartment on Magdalene Street in Drogheda which is on the same street as “Valhalla” – the children’s home he had been placed in.
At his inquest in 2005 he was described in glowing terms by health board staff who had cared for him and played football with him just hours before his death.
The inquest returned a verdict of death by misadventure, and ever since his death Mrs Gartland, who lives in Drogheda, said she cannot walk down the street without looking up to the apartment where he died.
When the death of Tracy Fay was reported earlier this month, “It brought it all back to me about Shane, and how young people like him never got a chance to live. When it was on the TV about Tracy Fay it really hurt me, and sometimes I sit here and I give out to Shane and ask him why did he go and leave me.” Shane would have been 18 years old in 2005, and she believes he would have moved in with her as she was his next of kin in Ireland. His mother Sharon, who lives in England with her husband and a new family, returned to Ireland for his inquest.
His grandmother wants Shane’s death to be reviewed by the independent group because, “I want him to get justice, I don’t think he got it at the inquest. We didn’t know we could have asked questions at the inquest about the care he was getting.
“All I got off the health board afterwards was a plastic bag with a few clothes in it. That was his life in there ,” she added.
The HSE did not confirm whether Shane’s death will be among those reviewed, and said: “The Independent Review Group established by the Minister will be reviewing all deaths of children in care.”
A spokesperson for the Minister for Children said the independent group had not yet begun its work, and in relation to when the next-of-kin of the deceased would be contacted said: “Decisions on the specific approach to be adopted by the Review Group are a matter for the group.”