Before witnesses took the stand to read their depositions, the HSE offered an \u201cunreserved\u201d apology to Ms Liston\u2019s loved ones.<\/p>\n
Her husband, Fergal Mannion, was the first to give his evidence.<\/p>\n
As he made his way to the stand, he brought a framed picture of his late wife. He carefully laid out before the courts.<\/p>\n
The coroner said he appreciated how difficult it was for Mr Mannion, and encouraged him to take a break whenever he needed.<\/p>\n
Mr Mannion recalled how the pair first met at a friend\u2019s birthday over 20 years ago in Galway. Facing him, sitting on a bench were Ms Liston\u2019s parents, Fiona and John, her youngest sister Sarah, and her sister Jennifer, accompanied by her husband.<\/p>\n
He described their first encounter as \u201clove at first sight\u201d. Working abroad, in the likes of Belgium and London, they didn\u2019t see each other for a few years \u2014 until meeting again at a friend\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n
While recalling his memories, Mr Mannion broke down in tears.<\/p>\n
Mr McNamara, the coroner, said: \u201cI don\u2019t want to take this away from you\u201d. After which, he offered that Mr Mannion\u2019s solicitor, Scarlett Griffin O\u2019Sullivan, read the rest of the deposition on his behalf.<\/p>\n
After getting married, the couple used IVF to conceive and were \u201cdelighted to be starting\u201d their own family.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything was finally going to plan, and Laura was over the moon to be pregnant. It\u2019s all she ever wanted, to be a mother,\u201d Mr Mannion said in his deposition, read by Ms Griffin O’Sullivan.<\/p>\n
He recalled how his late wife held their son for a few minutes with \u201ctears of joy in her eyes\u201d, before she \u201cfainted and dropped the baby in the birthing pool\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Laura](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4932170_14_articleinlinemobile_Unknown.jpeg\" "\\"Laura")
Laura Liston died in the early hours of June 5 at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after experiencing complications when trying to deliver the placenta.<\/p>\n
When trying to deliver the placenta, she experienced complications.<\/p>\n
Mr Mannion said his wife was let down \u201cthe one time she needed it\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am haunted by what happened that night. At times, I can\u2019t sleep as the flashbacks are so bad. Sometimes I\u2019d be shopping in Tesco, and everything from that night comes flooding back to me, and it feels overwhelming,\u201d read his deposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day is hard. I am constantly reminded of Laura, and my heart breaks that she isn\u2019t here to share all of the special moments with her child.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The primary midwife in the case, Sandra Healy, a self-employed community midwife working with the HSE, was the second witness to give evidence.<\/p>\n
Before reading her evidence, Ms Healy stopped to place a hand on Mr Mannion\u2019s shoulder, offering words no one else heard.<\/p>\n
After she started reading her deposition, Ms Healy broke down in tears. Her solicitor, Oonah McCrann, continued reading evidence on her behalf.<\/p>\n
During questioning, the court later heard how, \u201cin hindsight\u201d, Ms Healy could have contacted an ambulance earlier when Ms Liston experienced difficulties.<\/p>\n
It was also established that the light was dim in the mobile home where Ms Liston gave birth.<\/p>\n
In the afternoon, the court heard how the paramedics \u201cfought hard\u201d and did everything they could to help Ms Liston. They each offered their condolences to the family.<\/p>\n
Mr Mannion rose to his feet to shake the hands of Andrew Connaughton, Shane Houlihan, and Adam Kelly \u2014\u00a0 the paramedics who read their deposition in person.<\/p>\n
The coroner’s court also heard evidence from the second midwife, Sinead Murphy; pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster; specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynecology\u00a0Dr Jill Mitchell; anaesthetist trainee Dr Ronan Bluett, as well as the consultant in obstetrics and gynecology, Amanda Cotter.<\/p>\n
The inquest offered a long-awaited verdict for Ms Liston\u2019s loved ones.<\/p>\n
When the coroner, Mr McNamara, gave his verdict, Mr Mannion kept his head bowed down.<\/p>\n
Outside the courthouse, the family gathered with their heads held high behind solicitor Ms Griffin O\u2019Sullivan, who read out a statement to the press on their behalf.<\/p>\n
Ms Liston was described as a \u201cprivate person by nature\u201d who would have been \u201cuncomfortable\u201d with the attention her death has attracted.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she also had a very strong moral compass and would have hoped that pivotal lessons would be learned from her tragic death, for the benefit of mothers like her. This cannot be allowed to happen again,\u201d Ms Griffin O\u2019Sullivan read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every day brings constant reminders and fresh heartbreak for Fergal Mannion, a hushed coroner’s court heard, as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54,2120,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-245162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-courts","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}