The family of Aoife Johnston, who died at University Hospital Limerick in 2022, have said they feel badly let down by the Government's handling of their calls for a statutory inquiry and a memorial for Aoife.
The 16-year-old from Shannon in Co Clare died after waiting over 12 hours to be treated for sepsis in the hospital’s overcrowded emergency department in December 2022.
Her father James Johnston died of cancer in April this year.
Two months on from her husband’s death at the age of just 45, Carol Johnston said her recent loss feels "even harder" because when James was sick, he was "still battling with the loss of Aoife, and wanting to know what happened to his little girl".
Listen to John Cooke's full report on RTÉ's Drivetime
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Describing Aoife as James’s "priority, over himself, right until the end", Ms Johnston said she was speaking out due to the way the family felt "badly let down" in his final months over the Government’s handling of their repeated requests for a statutory public inquiry into Aoife’s death and a proposed memorial to her which never happened.
Family did not hear back from department regarding memorial
Explaining that the planned memorial was discussed at a meeting with Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill in March 2025, Ms Johnston said the family and their solicitors were asked to consider how they would like Aoife to be remembered in a new ward as part of a 96 bed block to open at University Hospital Limerick in autumn last year.
Having carefully selected photographs of Aoife and a suitable poem for the memorial, they emailed them to the department in September 2025.
However, the family heard nothing back and the opening of the new bed block went ahead without mention of Aoife.
In correspondence between the department and Damien Tansey, solicitor for the Johnstons, an "anti-spam filter tool" was cited as the reason for not receiving the poem and Aoife’s photographs.
The Johnston family described the response "an insult".
A "phone call to our solicitor" would have resolved the issue, according to Ms Johnston, who said "Aoife was forgotten" on the day the new bed bock was officially opened.
Ms Johnston said that was "really upsetting for us as a family" and was really upsetting for her late husband.
The issue was raised in Dáil Eireann by Sinn Féin TD for Clare Donna McGettigan last week who said the Johnstons had been "disrespected".
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he would ask the Minister for Health to look into the matter and see if it can be rectified.
The Johnston family have said they want no further engagement on the memorial as it has been "tainted" by the way they were "let down".
Family seeking 'some form of inquiry'
Asked about the family’s repeated calls for a statutory inquiry into Aoife’s death at University Hospital Limerick, the Taoiseach outlined how the HSE has apologised for her death which, he said, "should never have happened".
Mr Martin said previous investigations had "yielded a lot in terms of what went wrong".
These included the report by former Chief Justice Frank Keane who concluded that on the basis of the medical evidence given to him, Aoife’s death was almost certainly avoidable.
The Clarke report found that doctors and nurses at the emergency department in UHL were unaware of her sepsis risk, and because of overcrowding she was sent to the wrong section of the ED where sepsis forms were not kept or filled out.
Following publication of the report, in which names were redacted, the HSE confirmed that six people were facing disciplinary action over the circumstances surrounding Aoife's death at UHL.
But Aoife’s mother Carol feels further inquiries are still needed so the family can know the outcome of those disciplinary proceedings, even if they cannot be made public.
"We want some other form of inquiry that we can be involved in," she said.
She said she wanted to know that they have "done something" for Aoife, who she described as her "16-year-old child who was let down in Limerick hospital".
Her calls were backed by Mark Johnston, a brother of the late James who gave a eulogy at his funeral in April, describing how he felt let down by a continued sense of injustice in what happened to Aoife.
Also speaking to Drivetime, Mr Johnston said that James was "emotionally stressed and cross", prior to his untimely death, still feeling "let down by watching Aoife dying his arms over 16 hours", and let down again by Government promises regarding inquiries and a memorial.
Acknowledging the apologies for failings in the care of Aoife, Mark Johnston said they are still seeking greater accountability.
In a statement to Drivetime from the Department of Health, Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said her thoughts continue to be with the Johnston family.
She said her team would welcome the opportunity to meet with Aoife's family again at a time of their choosing, as they continue to communicate with the family representative.
A department spokesperson said they cannot comment further at this time as independent disciplinary investigations are still ongoing.
