A leading clinical psychologist has said Clodagh Hawe's family is showing immense courage by seeking a full investigation into the circumstances of her and sons' murders.
Clodagh Hawe and her three sons, Liam, Niall and Ryan, were killed by her husband Alan in 2016.
CEO of St Patrick's Mental Health Services Paul Gilligan said in the incidence of these types of horrendous cases we need to look at them in a different manner to try to find out why they happened.
"We need to find out what are the root causes of these events so that we can try and prevent them."
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said it is a disservice to attribute these kinds of acts to a mental health difficulty and he said we need to be sure that it was because of the mental health difficulty that they carried out a specific act before making that connection.
"There's a lot of stigma around mental health and we're adding to that stigma if we don't investigate these acts further to see if and when they can actually be attributed to mental health difficulties."
"We need the true facts."
"The family are doing us a massive service by asking for the investigation to be re-opened", he said.
"We need to do it in a culture of prevention and not a culture of blame."
Read more: Minister to meet family of Clodagh Hawe this week
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Mr Gilligan made his comments after the family of Clodagh Hawe spoke of their heartache and the many questions that they are left with after the tragedy.
Clodagh’s mother Mary Coll and sister Jacqueline Connolly appeared on last night’s Claire Byrne Live to tell their story. They are calling for a new and full inquiry into the murders of Clodagh, Liam, Niall and Ryan Hawe, to find out why Alan Hawe did what he did.
The family is also calling on Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan to amend the Succession Act 1965, as the act currently makes the perpetrator, or if deceased, their family, a beneficiary of the estate.
Minister Flanagan issued a statement today saying he "would welcome a submission from the family (of Clodagh Hawe) on any changes in legislation they believe are necessary."
He said he "would be very happy to receive it and to have it analysed by his officials and the Attorney General".
However, the Medical Director of the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum has taken issue with some of the comments made by Mr Gilligan.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke, Professor Harry Kennedy said: "Although I can't comment on a specific case, I felt obliged to reply to Paul Gilligan's piece on Morning Ireland."
Prof Kennedy said the link between untreated, severe mental illness and violence is long established since the 1980s and he said you have to go back to the 1970s to find a respectable, scientific view that there was no link.
"Paul Gilligan's concern, which I completely understand, was about stigma. But of course naming the problem can't cause stigma, its denying the problem that causes stigma.
"Denial of course is comforting but its mistaken and the big problem for people with severe mental illness is that denial, particularly since the 1970s has permitted the stripping of resources for the treating of severe mental illness.
"So even though we are very good now at treating severe mental illness, we are actually disadvantaged mainly by people who are getting muddled about what stigma is."
He said there is more treatment for severe mental illness in prison than out of it and he thinks that is a disaster and an appalling comment on the long-term result of well-meaning but mistaken policy over the years.
He also said it is not a simple problem, "it's complex, it's very diverse and we have to be able to tolerate diverse approaches to it and there's no perfect solution."
