Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his remarks. The Bill was published in 2007 and it is unacceptable it has taken so many years to get it on the Statute Book. The Deputy asked about the timeline. I understand it is the firm intention of the Minister to review this as quickly as possible in order that we can make progress and review it in a way which involves many of the issues the Deputy has mentioned.

In regard to civil law, as he rightly points out, there has been a substantial improvement in respect of the treatment and the rights of victims in cases before the ordinary courts. Whether there would be some new provisions within the Bill to deal with coroners where some malpractice or complaint has arisen is, I believe, a separate issue on the basis that there always has to be, under our system of courts, some form of a judicial appeal. The current dilemma is basically on a point of law rather than conduct and that issue would have to be teased out.

With regard to the Deputy's concerns about the review, we need to get to the review and resolve this as soon as possible. We certainly need to enhance the standing and the information given to victims and their families as a result of cases before the Coroner's Court because, of course, the court is a fundamental part of finding the facts of a case, certainly in regard to the basic information as to how someone died and the circumstances around it. People who die have rights too. It is established under international and Irish law that there is a right to find out exactly what occurred, when it occurred and the how, if one likes. In so far as we need a piece of modern legislation in respect of the Coroner's Court, the existing legislation is certainly not adequate and the Minister accepts that. As far as he is concerned, it is a priority to fix that by way of the review, as he has outlined.

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