How many more children have to die at the hands of parents with mental illness?
Families of murdered children call for Mental Health Act overhaul
Darragh, Carla and Conor McGinley. Their mother, Deirdre Morley, was fact not guilty of their murders by reason of insanity. Picture: Andrew McGinley/Conor s Clips
Sat, 22 May, 2021 - 08:09
Eoin English and Liz Dunphy
Two parents whose children were killed by their mentally ill spouses have demanded urgent changes to the law to prevent such tragedies from happening again.
Andrew McGinley and Una Butler want the Mental Health Act (2001) overhauled to allow families to be more involved in the treatment of their mentally ill loved ones.
There are so many ways people change when they have children. For me, I developed this heightened empathy that makes me hypersensitive to news articles, books or even movie plots about children being hurt or killed.
As a result, I carefully edit what I watch and read. My emotions can’t take it. I know I’m not alone in this regard.
As a journalist, you might think I would be used to the deluge of horror that sadly becomes part and parcel of the job. It turns out I’m really not. This week, I read the details of Deirdre Morley’s trial with difficulty. Let’s face it, irrespective of parental status or occupation, the details of this tragedy would trouble anybody.
Andrew McGinley shocked nobody told him about wife s concerns over minding children
Exclusive: The Donegal native, who said there were also other red flags during the evidence, has asked the “treating teams to sit down with us and provide us with those answers”
Updated
Andrew McGinley in a screengrab from this evening s RTE Prime Time (Image: RTE Prime Time)
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