James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputy Eamon Scanlon. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Bill, which aims to strengthen and modernise parts of the Coroners Act. I welcome that the Bill allows for wider scope of inquiry and seeks to address public unease regarding high profile cases, including maternal deaths. In the past, deaths relating to maternity care that should have been reported because there were issues of medical error, and were unnatural deaths, were not reported. Bereaved families experienced difficulty obtaining basic information with which they should have been provided. The increased powers afforded to the coroners in the legislation are welcome in this regard. In particular, I support the requirement that maternal deaths will now be the subject of an inquest. The introduction of mandatory reporting, post mortem examination and inquests into maternal deaths will now, hopefully, deliver the transparency, accountability and oversight that is long overdue. Hopefully, no more families who have had loved ones lost to them will have to struggle and fight to get the answers they are entitled to.

I commend Deputy Clare Daly and her team for pursuing this Bill, and the families who have had to suffer in the absence of these rights and powers. The Bill will also allow a coroner to inquire into a stillbirth where there is a cause for concern, for example, if this is raised by bereaved parents. In effect, all stillbirths, perinatal deaths and maternal deaths should now have to be reported to the coroner. I believe this is the way it should be and it is not before time. I hope the Bill will pass through the Oireachtas in a timely fashion.

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