THE murder of two women who were outpatients of St Brendan's psychiatric hospital in Grangegorman, Dublin, were "undoubtedly preventable" had the Eastern Health Board responded to repeated staff reports of concerns for their safety, the Psychiatric Nurses' Association has claimed.
In response, the EHB last night strongly defended its security arrangements and clinical record.
Chief Supt Dick Kelly, who is leading the murder investigation, confirmed that a number of incidents had been reported in the area. Some of these were at the women's house, but they were "not of a very serious nature", he said.
The bodies of Miss Sylvia Shields (57) and Miss Mary Callinan (61) were found in a house run by the EHB in Orchard View, Grangegorman, last Friday.
The PNA yesterday published a list containing a "sample" of incidents which it said showed the concerns nursing staff had had for the women's safety and the safety of other hostel clients in the area.
One of these incidents was a break-in at the deceased women's home by a 16-year-old youth through a back window on December 19th last. He entered the bedroom of one of the deceased women and shone a torch into the bedroom of the other, according to the PNA. The incident had been reported to gardai and security personnel at the hospital.
The house - facing St Brendan's hospital - which the two women shared with a third outpatient was a low-support group home, or hostel, in a five house street which also has another low-support hostel in one house and a high-support hostel spread over three houses.
Because they had been assessed as having a low-support status, the murdered women did not have nursing staff living with them.
The PNA's general secretary, Mr Des Kavanagh, said that the women regularly called "at all times of the night" - often dressed in their night clothes - to the high-support hostel seeking "reassurance" from nursing staff.
He said that the two women could have been moved to a larger hostel with permanent nursing staff and called for an assessment of nursing care, supervision and security arrangements for patients undergoing rehabilitation.
In response, the EHB said that the intruder on December 19th last had not entered the bedroom of either of the murdered women. The incident had been acted upon immediately by management and two windows at the back of the house had been nailed up.
It said that a review of security requirements in the group homes/", hostel programme run from St Brendan's had been undertaken last October and November. As a result, a number of security features had been addressed and upgraded as part of an ongoing process.
A recent review of the entire rehabilitation programme run from St Brendan's had found "no concern" regarding the safety of clients in Orchard View, the EHB said.
Chief Supt Kelly said that the women had not been sexually assaulted and no motive had yet been established for the murder. While he was not in a position to say whether the murderer would strike again, that possibility existed. He renewed his appeal to the public for help in finding the killer.