Statutory inquiry into Aoife Johnston death not ruled out

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said he is not ruling out a statutory inquiry into the death of teenager Aoife Johnston.

However, he warned that such inquiries involve a "very legalistic process" and can take years.

Aoife Johnston died at University Hospital Limerick in December 2022 after suffering from meningitis-related sepsis.

She was left for more than 16 hours without antibiotics.

Former Chief Justice Frank Clarke wrote a report which said that her death was "almost certainly avoidable".

The solicitor for Aoife Johnson's parents Carol and James said the family wanted a statutory inquiry which would make findings of fact, and could make adverse findings against individuals.

On RTÉ’s This Week programme, Minister Donnelly said he wanted to speak directly to Carol and James Johnston and discuss the case with them.

He said: "Solicitors sometimes talk about statutory inquiries and talk about them like they will resolve all of the problems and answer all of the questions.

"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."

However, he added that he was not ruling anything out.