Andrew McGinley says community support and letters “got him through” after children’s deaths

"I have to recognise everybody who wrote to me."

Andrew McGinley has said that the support of the community "got him through" following the deaths of his children. Conor, Darragh, and Carla McGinley were killed by their mother, Deirdre Morley, last January in their Dublin home. Yesterday's verdict found Morley not guilty by reason of insanity, a verdict that Andrew has since said is "probably the right one." In an interview with Miriam O'Callaghan for RTÉ's Prime Time, which aired last night following the trial's end, Andrew thanked the community for their support over the past year. "They were just fantastic to me, the neighbours, the community, just everybody has been, and they can't do enough," he said. "I have to recognise everybody who wrote to me because when I put the appeal out for letters at the start of lockdown, I think Conor's clips had about 300 followers. I thought if 30 or 40 of those people wrote to me, it'd be lovely it would get me through, and I'd write back and would get me through lockdown a little bit. "And sure, next thing I'm looking at about 10 An Post boxes in the kitchen. They got me through so thank you to everybody." He added: “I can’t be angry, the kids wouldn’t want me to be angry [...] I just think anger is a negative emotion and I don’t want to be angry. But I do need answers.” Andrew, who discovered his children's bodies when he returned home from work, said yesterday that he believes the not guilty by insanity verdict to be the right one. In a statement issued through Gardaí, he said that he is "no closer to understanding why" his children had died. "Everyone who knows Deirdre, knows how much she loved our children and how devoted she was to them," he said. "Whatever the outcome of this trial, it remains that our beloved children Conor, Darragh and Carla have died. As I write this, I’m no closer to understanding why." Andrew went on to say that he will be seeking clarity from the HSE regarding his wife's diagnosis and condition at the time of the children's death. Morley had first spoken with psychiatrists about her mental health issues in late 2018, stating that she feared her illness would affect her family. Andrew told Prime Time that he and his family still have "a lot of questions" regarding Deirdre's treatment under the HSE. "Especially when we listened to the two medical experts in the days of the trial, and some of it was new to us," he said. "I need to understand that, and the only way you can understand that is from the people who were treating Dee previously over the last couple of years. So my request is that they would meet with us as a family so that we can review our treatment plan over the last few years."