Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the gambling piece, this is a work of progress in progress at the moment. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, is working on bringing forward legislation, which he hopes to have enacted by the end of the year.

To show our intent in this regard, there was initial seed funding of €200,000 allocated and then a further €500,000 for this year. The increase shows the intent but obviously the legislation must come before that. I know a huge amount of work and focus, within the legislation, acknowledges the online element of gambling and how it has changed form in recent years. Obviously, that is something the regulator will deal with directly. While the funding this year may seem small, it is seed funding and intent funding to show what the overall objective is, and what will be more likely next year and the year after.

Regarding the Coroner Service, the Deputy will appreciate that the coroners are independent in their functions, conduct and how they carry out their work. As a result of Covid-19, many services have been seriously curtailed. I appreciate that it has impacted on many cases and decisions and has had a severe impact on families and the timelines in which they expect to have the results. We have had what are referred to as documentary inquests or remote inquests, in the same way that, across the justice sector, everybody has tried to digitalise and work remotely to be able to respond to the evolving situation with Covid-19. I think, bar a small number of cases, the vast majority of families have agreed to progress in this way.

Regarding the situation in the Dublin coronial district, we have a second coroner and two new deputy coroners were appointed in February 2022. Further, we have the Civil and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, which specifically looked at the assignment and appointment of temporary coroners to act simultaneously with other coroners in exceptional circumstances. This was to try to deal with the capacity. We are continuously trying to update, review and amend, but taking into account that coroners are independent in their role and function, we have to try to support them. The last two years have been particularly difficult for them in carrying out their work.