Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 December 2018

Select Committee on Justice and Equality

Coroners (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage

10:40 am

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge what the Minister is trying to do. The amendment provides that the duty to hold an inquest into maternal death and a death in State custody does not have retrospective effect. This prevents the State from having to investigate the deaths of everyone who died in prison of old age, for example, but I would like to hear more about the position on maternal deaths. It is worth having a conversation on whether the provision could work in tandem with some other route for people who have been denied an inquest up to now, or who will have been prior to the enactment of this legislation. We are aware of a death that occurred a number of years ago in respect of which the husband of the woman had never been granted or had never sought an inquest. That process is now under way, however. Is there some route for such people? We envisage something other than a formal appeals process or something else in order that families who are currently unhappy about a coroner's decision not to hold an inquest would have a route under this legislation to have their cases re-examined without giving rise to the Minister's problem of retrospective application in all cases. Could something be built in on Report Stage in this regard? It might be worth considering. I am not opposing the amendment.

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