Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That sums it up very well. The point is that the legislation ties their hands. We are instructing coroners to hold a mandatory inquest in cases of maternal death. The only exception that has emerged is in cases where it would not be necessary, where the reason was obvious and clear and we do not wish to traumatise the family again. That was the only exception we all wanted. As Deputy Wallace stated, our amendment allows us to do that, but the Minister's does not. His amendment permits a scenario, albeit that it might not happen very often, with the possibility of a coroner deciding not to hold an inquest in a case where one should be held. Maternal deaths are different. We are talking about otherwise healthy people interfacing with the medical system or maternal care and ending up dead. It is a major issue. The examination of the underlying events that led up to that is immensely important. I again make the point that what might appear natural to a coroner in the post mortem or in the report from the hospital might not be, due to underlying issues, and we are losing valuable information there if our amendment is not accepted.

I accept the point about consultation. We are not opposed to tidying that up on Report Stage. Obviously, the family's decision not to have one should be following consultation with the coroner. That is accepted. At the same time, however, it should be the family's decision, not the coroner's. That is the purpose of the Bill and what we are trying to achieve.