Statutory inquiry into death of Aoife Johnston not ruled out, says Donnelly

By Rebecca Black, PA

The establishment of a statutory inquiry into the death of teenager Aoife Johnston has not been ruled out.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said he wanted to speak directly to the 16-year-old’s parents Carol and James.

Aoife died at University Hospital Limerick in 2022 after waiting for 12 hours to be assessed for suspected sepsis.

She was not administered the appropriate sepsis bundle of medication until 13 hours later. National protocols on sepsis suggest that treatment should take place within one hour.

Former chief justice Frank Clarke described the circumstances around her death as “almost certainly avoidable”.

Appearing on RTE’s This Week programme on Sunday, Mr Donnelly said he was not ruling anything out.

“Solicitors sometimes talk about statutory inquiries and talk about them like they will resolve all of the problems and answer all of the questions,” he said.

“There is a statutory inquiry into the Grace case and that has been running for six years and they have yet to publish their first report into phase one.

“It is a very legalistic process and they don’t always give people what they want.”