Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask the Minister for Justice about the coronial system particularly as it relates to the justice plan 2022 which commits to bringing forward nationwide coroner review proposals later this year to address identified issues and drive innovative change. My biggest concern right now relates to the absence of a coroner in Carlow district. We currently have 34 coroners in 38 coronial districts. Why is there not a coroner appointed in Carlow? There is temporary cover from Laois that is already three years in place. As the Minister knows, coroners are appointed by the local authority except in the district of Dublin where appointment is by the Minister's office. Where a vacancy arises in a particular coronial district and that district falls within local authority areas where there is more than one coronial district, the Minister's office may, following consultation with the local authority, direct another coroner from the same local authority area to assume the coronial duties of the vacant office. These can then be amalgamated districts. However there is no specific protocol in a case such as in Carlow where the passing of a coroner left a vacancy which has still to be filled and is currently being held by a coroner in a separate district for it to be filled from that district. There is no urgency to fill the vacant role and this concerns me.

Coroner districts within counties have been amalgamated from 48 districts to 38 in 2022. Carlow remains a district, although it is without a coroner. The legal requirements for a person to be appointed as a coroner or a duty coroner are set out in the legislation. Are there any plans to broaden this?

As the Minister knows, no person shall be appointed to be a coroner or deputy coroner unless he or she is a practising barrister of at least five years' standing, a practicing solicitor of at least five years' standing or a registered medical practitioner who has been registered other than provisionally or temporarily under the Medical Practitioners Acts1927 to 1961 in the register of medical practitioners for Ireland or who has been entitled to be so registered for at least five years. Yet there is no application process, no job site to which to apply, so what steps are being taken to recruit a Carlow coroner for a vacancy that is some years in existence? To date only two such appointments have been made, one in Kildare and one in Meath. My understanding is that there is a mechanism for the coroners service to recruit extra staff. The Minister might come back to me on that.

The Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 provided for the assignment and appointment of temporary coroners as part of the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, Carlow remains without one.

Section 13 of the 1962 Act provides that each coroner shall appoint a deputy coroner, again in the case of Carlow, we do not have one. We have been promised many times comprehensive reform in the system but we cannot seem to get the right staff in place. I have argued for a review of the system, a widening of powers, a better system that empowers families left behind after a death, that provides more transparency and supports for those bereaved through suicide. I support calls for better data collection so that we can learn lessons better and for recommendations made by coroners to have greater weight.

In committee I called for a full-time coroner in each district reporting to the recruitment and resourced from a national coroners service with consistent standards of practice throughout the country and sufficient supports to ensure families left behind are supported in a most difficult time in their lives. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s plans for these vital reforms.

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