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SAVITA’S HUSBAND CONCLUDES EVIDENCE AT GALWAY INQUEST
Praveen Halappanavar has now concluded his statement at the inquest into the death of his wife Savita at UHG last year.
The inquest resumed this afternoon before Galway West Coroner Dr.Ciaran MacLoughlin after a short break.
31 year old Savita died at UHG on October 28th last year after suffering a miscarriage and contracting septicaemia.
Mr. Halappanavar has argued that his wife was denied an abortion.
The inquest opened just after 10.30 this morning when Praveen arrived with his legal team – Solicitor Gerard O’ Donnell and Barrister Eugene Gleeson.
Declan Buckley is Senior Counsel for the HSE.
Statements have so far been heard from a GP, from a member of an garda siochana and from a worker from the hospital mortuary where the post mortem was carried out.
The inquest is being heard in the presence of a jury – this is an obligation in accordance with S40 of the Act.
Coroner Dr.Ciaran MacLoughlin opened proceedings by conveying his sincere sympathy and condolence to Praveen and said he would undertake to conduct the inquiry with solemn respect.
53 statements have been received from hospital personnel and eight statements from Gardai as well as various expert reports.
Praveen began his statement just after 11 this morning and took a brief break from the witness box at midday before returning to complete his statement by 12.35.
He detailed his memory of events from the time Savita found she was pregnant in July 2012 to the time of her death at the intensive care unit in UHG on 28th October.
During his statement, he said that Savita had asked for a termination and on one such request was told ‘unfortunately I cannot, this is a catholic country, we are bound by the law. We cannot terminate while the foetus is still alive.
The inquest is expected to continue for at least one week at courtroom 3 in Galway Courthouse.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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