Court challenge to decision not to allow medical evidence in inquest of three children killed by mother

Deirdre Morley is seeking a judicial review of the decision of Dublin District Coroner not to allow medical professionals who treated Ms Morley before the killings to give evidence about her mental state at the time

Deirdre Morley killed Conor, 9, Darragh, 7, and Carla McGinley, 3, at their home in Newcastle, Co Dublin, in 2020.

Lawyers for a woman who killed her three children while suffering from a mental disorder will bring a High Court action next month seeking to challenge a coroner's decision to limit medical evidence in the inquests into their deaths.

Deirdre Morley, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the killings, is seeking a judicial review of the decision of Dublin District Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane on October 7. Dr Cullinane decided not to allow medical professionals who treated Ms Morley before the killings to give evidence about her mental state at the time.

Ms Morley, a paediatric nurse, killed Conor, 9, Darragh, 7, and Carla McGinley, 3, at their home in Newcastle, Co Dublin, in 2020. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2021 following a trial at the Central Criminal Court.

An autopsy found the three children died by suffocation.

Ms Morley's lawyers have argued the inquest would be "insufficient and inadequate" if it did not assess the state of her mental health at the time of the killings through evidence from those who treated her in the six months before the tragedies. 

Dr Cullinane intends instead to rely on expert witness testimony from consultant psychiatrists Dr Brenda Wright and Dr Mary Davoren, who gave evidence at Ms Morley's trial.

At the High Court on Thursday, Fiona Gallagher BL, for Ms Morley, told Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty her client had been committed to the Central Mental Hospital after the verdict. She said it was in "everyone's interest" that the inquest could come to a conclusion in a timely manner..

Ms Gallagher applied to have the High Court ex parte application — where only one side is represented — heard earlier than the date fixed, January 19, 2026.

Counsel said it was coming up to six years since the January 2020 deaths and there were other parties involved that had to be taken into account, including the children's father, Andrew McGinley, and medical professionals.

Ms Justice Gearty granted Ms Gallagher's application for an earlier date and adjourned the matter to December 8.

After a three-day trial, the jury accepted the evidence given by Dr Davoren and Dr Wright that the accused was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killings and fulfilled the criteria for the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster found the children had died by asphyxia from compressions of the chest area and airways.

Ms Morley told gardaí at the time she was “overwhelmed” and her thoughts had been “getting darker”. The court heard Ms Morley wanted to save her children from the “pain and suffering” she felt lay before them because of her parental shortcomings. 

She believed she had to take their lives as they were “more damaged” by her parenting skills and they “had to go together”.