Call for death of baby to be included in review
Wednesday March 17 2010
DEPUTY Fergus O'Dowd has called for the death of a newborn infant in Drogheda last year to be included in cases reviewed by the independent group set up by the minister for children after her teenage mother was left homeless just days before the baby died.
The Louth Fine Gael TD described the death of the baby as a 'heartbreaking tragedy'.
Deputy O'Dowd said that no emergency accommodation had been made available for the baby and her 17-year-old mother and days after the girl contacted him the baby died while they were staying with a friend of the teenager.
An inquest into the death of the baby, who was just a few weeks old at the time, recorded a verdict of cot death.
'I was contacted by this 17-year-old girl who was walking the streets of Drogheda in the rain with her tiny baby unable to return to her family home and desperately in need of emergency accommodation,' said Deputy O'Dowd.
'The baby had recently been released from hospital after a viral infection and she and the baby had taken refuge with a friend when this terrible tragedy occurred.'
He said in the past, local health services provided emergency accommodation in houses in Drogheda and Dundalk but this facility was not available in this case.
- Fiona MAGENNIS
