Holiday parents deny drink binge

The family returned home on Tuesday

A County Londonderry couple whose three children were taken into care during a family holiday in Portugal have denied consuming excess alcohol.

In a statement, Eamon and Antoinette McGuckin said they were "deeply saddened and hurt" by what happened.

"We live and breathe for our children and would never ever place them in any kind of danger," they said.

Their children, aged one, two and six, were taken into care after their parents allegedly passed out drunk.

The couple were rushed to a health centre in nearby Loule after arriving at the Aparthotel Mourabel for a week-long holiday on Friday afternoon.

The family returned to their home at Upperlands near Maghera on Tuesday, but are believed to be staying with friends.

In their statement, the McGuckins said they had their first alcoholic drink of the day with their evening meal, and "the amount of alcohol they consumed would not have been sufficient to render them incapable of being responsible parents".

When they returned to the hotel, Mrs McGuckin became "violently ill", and Mr McGuckin arranged with hotel management to care for the children while he accompanied his wife to hospital.

An official report from the health centre confirmed that Mr McGuckin was conscious, orientated and helpful with staff whilst his wife was unconscious, the statement said.

The couple said they wanted to return to daily life as soon as possible.

"We hope that this traumatic experience is now closed as we want to get back to our normal routine of loving our beautiful children and getting on with life," they said.