Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 18 May 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Certain Institutional Burials (Authorised Interventions) Bill (Resumed)

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Again, I just want to be very clear. I ask the Minister to forgive me, and I know he is not deliberately misinterpreting what I am saying. I am talking about the resourcing of the coronial service, and that is a matter for the Government. I recognise that silos exist in Departments, but the Minister is the line manager, as it were, for the setting up of this agency. Therefore, if there is to be an extensive coronial investigative process in this regard, I ask that it will not be hampered. That is presumably a whole-of-Government matter and not just for the Minister for Justice. Therefore, I take the point the Minister is making about the review, but I ask him to use his good offices to ensure that when an agency is created that it will not be hampered by the lack of investigative powers due to the unavailability of a coroner or coroners or other such appropriate staff as might be deemed necessary to carry out investigations.