Professor Phil Scraton:

I am not named after an American city. I do want to come in on that. Deputy Costello's question is highly understandable but I do not believe it is appropriate in these circumstances. At the moment, as far as I am aware, in advanced democratic societies there is no system in place that is appropriate. My work in Australia demonstrates that absolutely clearly. Australia is looking to the UK, for example, where I worked on these issues for 25 years before I came to Ireland. The UK system is an imperfect one. I do not know how it would even begin to deal with this issue at the moment.

This is why we propose this has to be a groundbreaking unique first attempt to investigate thoroughly, examine the circumstances and go through all of the issues heard in the submissions today. I want to make a point on the relationship between agency and coroner. I was off-line and I am not sure how much of the statement on the coronial position on agency was made clear. We are speaking about mass deaths and multiple inquests. The coronial system in Ireland could not do this job. Agency coroners would have to be appointed specifically to work on these issues. This would be a major investment for the Irish State and there is no question about it. I have to say that justice does not come cheap when a State has administered injustice over years. We understand where the argument about agency comes from but it is not sufficient. It has to be plumbed into the coronial process. This means the appointment of not just one agency coroner but as many as it would take to examine and investigate thoroughly all of these cases individually on behalf of each family that comes forward.