There is growing confusion over why a 14-year-old Leitrim girl missed the deadline for a liver transplant at the weekend.

Meadhbh McGivern needed to be flown to a London hospital to avail of the liver on Saturday night, however a delay in aircraft availability meant she would have been too late for the operation and the liver was subsequently given to another patient.

Ms McGivern and her family were told that they would not make the 2am deadline for the operation just before they were about to board a Coast Guard helicoptor in Sligo.

However it has emerged that the HSE and the Department of Transport have provided conflicting accounts about the contacts made in relation to aircraft.

In a statement, the HSE said that it had contacted the Coast Guard eight minutes after 8pm on Saturday to request a priority level one aircraft. However the Coast Guard said that they had no aircraft available at that point.

At around 10pm, the Coast Guard informed the HSE that an aircraft was available in Sligo. However when Ms McGivern and her family arrived in Sligo, they were informed that the flight would take up to four hours. This would result in them missing the 2am deadline set by the hospital.

In the meantime, a statement from the Department of Transport has said that the Coast Guard did not receive an initial request until 8.50pm, over 40 minutes later than the HSE claimed.

According to RTE, the HSE also requested assistance from the Air Corps, but its on-call helicopter was being used to transport another patient. The Air Corps said it offered the use of a G4 fixed-wing air ambulance, due to land in Baldonnel at 10.30pm, but this offer was declined.

Ms McGivern's father, Joe McGivern, has said while he does not want to lay blame, the family are shocked by the events of Saturday night and he hopes such a situation will not happen again.