A WOMAN WHO was jailed for killing her three children is to take legal action over a coroner’s decision to limit the evidence given at the inquests.

Deirdre Morely is taking the judicial review proceedings following a decision by Dublin District Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane not to have medical professionals who treated her before the tragic event give evidence about her mental state.

Ms Morley’s lawyers had previously argued that an inquest into the deaths of the children would be “inadequate and insufficient” if it did not examine the state of her mental health at the time of the incident.

Ms Morley, a paediatric nurse, killed her children, Conor (9), Darragh (7) and three-year-old Carla McGinley, at their home in Newcastle, Co Dublin, in 2020. She was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity in 2021 following a trial.

A postmortem showed the three young siblings had all died from suffocation.

Counsel for Deirdre Morley, Fiona Gallagher BL, told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court in October that the inquest into the children’s deaths needed evidence from medical professionals who had treated her in the previous six months, rather than rely on expert witnesses.

The submission followed a ruling by coroner Myra Cullinane that evidence to be heard at the inquest about the woman’s mental state would be given by two forensic consultant psychiatrists who had also given evidence at her criminal trial.

Dr Cullinane pointed out that she had asked both psychiatrists, Brenda Wright and Mary Davoren, to prepare new reports specifically for the inquest.

The coroner also stated that she had directed that all Ms Morley’s relevant medical records should be disclosed to all parties granted legal representation at the inquest.

The coroner noted that Ms Morley had changed her legal team since she had made a ruling on the scope of her inquiry.

Gallagher argued that relevant evidence should be allowed relating to the six months prior to the tragic circumstances. This would include Morley’s admission to St Patrick’s Hospital in Dublin and treatment by mental health professionals in Clondalkin and Tallaght, as well as her GP.

She noted that the coroner had indicated through her decisions that the deaths of the three children had not occurred “in a vacuum.”

She warned there would be “an evidential gap” if the doctors who treated her client were not called as witnesses.

Gallagher further claimed the absence of such medical professionals from the inquest would represent an “unwarranted trammelling” of the evidence that the inquest should be examining.

Opposing the submission, Simon Mills SC, counsel for consultant psychiatrist Olivia Gibbons, accused Ms Morley’s lawyers of engaging in “a collateral attack” on the coroner’s ruling.

Dr Mills pointed out that it had been accepted by Ms Morley during her criminal trial that she had only formed the intention that led to the deaths of her children in January 2020, the month they were killed.

He noted that Ms Morley had also given evidence on that occasion that she had not told anyone about that intention.

He claimed the relevance of what was being proposed by Ms Morley’s legal representatives was “skeletal in the extreme with no meat put on the bones of that argument.”

Dr Mills observed that the coroner had properly directed that Ms Morley’s medical records should be available to all parties.

He claimed it would be peculiar for the coroner to reverse her position about the witness list in consideration of the rights of someone whose rights were below those of the deceased.

Dr Mills argued that any evidence from Dr Gibbons would not be contemporaneous or relevant to the death of the McGinley children.

Counsel for the HSE, Sarah Corcoran BL, said she agreed with the submission made by Dr Mills.

With reporting by Seán McCárthaigh