Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be supporting the amendments. On some occasions when an inquest takes place before a coroner, a member of An Garda Síochána will apply for an adjournment because there will be an ongoing criminal investigation. At that stage, the objective is to ensure that the criminal investigation is given priority and is not interfered with. There is a concern that if an inquest goes on in advance of the conclusion of the criminal investigation, it could interfere with it.

As the Minister noted, this is already the practice in the Coroner's Court but it makes sense to put it on a statutory basis. Sometimes, unfortunately, people go before a Coroner's Court looking for justice. That is not the place where one will get justice. In a Coroner's Court, one will get information on where, when and how a person died. If that person has been unlawfully killed, sometimes, understandably, the family of the deceased will look to the State inquest for answers and for liability and culpability to be apportioned. That is understandable but it is not the function of a Coroner's Court. The appropriate place for people responsible for deaths to be held to account is before the criminal courts, that is how it should happen. It is understandable from the point of view of families of people who had been murdered or killed unlawfully that they sometimes look at the Coroner's Court for answers that it cannot provide. However, the primary amendment is appropriate as it will entitle members of the Garda to point to a statutory provision that says the coroner should now adjourn the inquest because there is an ongoing criminal investigation. I also think it will take pressure off a coroner in many instances that families will be there and will not want the inquest to be adjourned but if a coroner can point to a statutory provision that mandates him or her to adjourn the inquest, then it will make his or her life easier and will not give any false hope to the family.

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