Family found dead at home 'not on HSE risk list'

Healthcare officials today insisted they were unaware of any risks for a family of four who were found dead in their home.

Even though a priest and gardaí called at the house in the quiet village of Monageer, Co Wexford over the weekend, the Health Service Executive (HSE) said no concerns had been raised with them.

Adrian and Ciara Dunne, both aged in their late 20s, were found dead in their new home in the Moin Rua estate with their children, Leanne, five, and Shania, three, yesterday.

It is understood the youngsters were suffocated, the mother strangled and Adrian was found hanging in the hallway.

However, Pauline Bryan, manager with the HSE South, said there were no known risks.

"As recently as Friday, midday last, we had contact with the entire family through our public health nursing service for developmental checks for the children, and after the meeting and during the course of that meeting we had no concerns at all regarding the family," she said.

Local priest Father Richard Redmond, who knew the Dunne’s for several years, also called to the house on Friday and after speaking with Adrian and Ciara said everything appeared fine.

He visited them after gardaí were alerted by an undertaker on Friday. Fears for the family’s safety grew after he was asked to arrange a burial plot for them.

The HSE said a childcare manager was contacted by gardaí with concerns on Saturday, but there are no out of hours social worker services in the area.

Gardaí were told their options were to remove the youngsters to hospital or contact the Caredoc out of hours services.

“On each case they (gardaí) work with the level of information available at that time and like ourselves a professional judgment is made from the information available to them,” Ms Bryan said.

The HSE also said it did not have an “at risk” file on the family.

The Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) said serious questions had to be answered and called for an independent inquiry.

Paul Gilligan, ISPCC chief executive, said there is a moral obligation to assess whether the deaths could have been prevented.

“The death of such a young family in such tragic circumstances raises very serious questions,” he said.

“I’m sure that along with the extended family, friends, and the community in general, that any childcare professionals working with this family are devastated this morning and I’m sure they feel they did all that they could.”

Mr Gilligan questioned how no voluntary or statutory agency picked up on this vulnerable family, or if they did what did they do and how did the family end up getting to this level of desperation.

He also said it needed to be established if the Dunne’s were known to child protection authorities.

“There is a vast amount of questions that need to be addressed,” he said.

As the call was made for an independent inquiry, locals in the small village made there way to morning mass where prayers were offered for the family.

Post-mortem examinations were being carried out at Wexford Hospital as forensic teams returned to the home to continue their investigations.

A neighbour and friend of the family told RTÉ Radio of the distress the tragedy had caused.

“I’m not even coming to terms with it. I’m expecting to come home tomorrow and see them in the house,” Charlotte Keogh said.

“It’s just awful. How do I explain it even to my own daughter, why they are not there and what has happened.”

Ms Keogh also hit out at the health services.

“It’s ridiculous that health people were told and they didn’t do something,” she said.

“If he was in that bad of a situation he had to go to that extreme that somebody didn’t know, and if they were told who something wasn’t done.”