Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Bill is welcome. Sinn Féin will not oppose its passage. We hope to see it speedily go through the various Stages. On the Bill itself, we all recognise there have been serious issues with the Coroner Service, particularly with regard to delays. Dublin has been the victim of many of these problems. This legislation will deal with Dublin specifically or almost entirely. The issue the Minister of State mentioned regarding the Stardust inquest is a key issue that needs to be resolved. I am sure we can have a sense of it working through to a conclusion, I hope, for the many families who have waited far too long to get a sense of justice and closure regarding that tragic event. For many other families, the Coroner Service is where they go to try to get closure and an understanding of what happened. As the Minister of State mentioned, the justice committee, of which I was a member at the time, sought to ensure hearings on the Coroner Service to look toward reform, change and making something positive happen.

Many people feel the Coroner Service is ad hoc in some places. That is not to say that the vast majority of work is not done professionally and well but there are questions. People have serious questions, especially about how coroners are recruited. In most cases, the coroner appoints a deputy, and when that coroner retires, the deputy takes their place. There is no open or transparent mechanism for recruitment. There are also issues regarding qualifications. In some cases, coroners are doctors and in others they are legal persons. We need clarity. The report from the committee at the time made a series of recommendations. We hoped to see many, if not all, of those recommendations implemented and brought through the Legislature but we are where we are. While this legislation does something to assist, it does not go near where the problems are or the issues that need to be addressed.

A key issue is what happens after a death occurs. For example, what happens when the coroner says there is a particular area on a road where five people have now been killed? The coroner does a report and there is no obligation on the local authority or whoever to do anything about that particular incident. Perhaps it is a death involving a piece of machinery or equipment used in a particular way. There should be a means by which the recommendation of the coroner actually has meaning to prevent future deaths. One recommendation of the committee was a threshold to reach the verdict, that there should be more information and rules established around all of that.

Linking the registration of deaths with the electoral register is a simple little thing that was brought in. Many of us know of people who have passed away and are still on the electoral register many years later.It should be easy to resolve that.

There were also issues regarding a central coroner service. Instead of it being done by each local authority, it should be done on a regional basis so the coroner would perhaps cover several counties. Therefore, it would not be an ad hoc bit of a job. It would be more permanent, well established and professional. That is a key aspect.

Regarding the implementation of recommendations from the coroner's report, in both England and Wales there is a prevention of future death report, which could have merit and should be looked at in the future. The other was the selection of juries and the process by which they are selected. There needs to be a more formalised method of doing that. We heard in the committee about some instances in which people rang up a few friends and a few people they knew to get them to come in as juries. We need a more formal, better mechanism to ensure jurors are from a wide spectrum and come from various sectors of society and age groups, etc., so that there is a more informed means of doing it.

Coroners need to have a professional method of doing things so that if a verdict comes out of the coroner's report, the family involved can feel it has all been done in a timely manner and an appropriate way, and that there is a sense of being able to deliver for people. A big issue is that the length of time people are waiting is very distressing for many families. There are also issues getting medical and toxicology reports. There are huge delays. Clearly, a lot of this is about resourcing. Adequate resourcing needs to be put in place. We also spoke about coroners and that some of the cases with which they and their staff deal are very distressing and difficult. There should, perhaps, be recourse to counselling or assistance for them to cope with the more harrowing experiences in the coroner's court. Work-related counselling for coroners and their staff should also be provided.

There was also an issue regarding legal representation. We see that in the Stardust case. In some situations, families feel they should have a legal representative. Often, in difficult cases such as Stardust, other sides have an army of legal representatives but families cannot afford that. Free legal aid should be examined in that respect. The legal aid scheme should be brought to bear for bereaved families who need representation in some of these cases - perhaps not all.

The committee also recognised the excellent work many coroners do and the excellent service they provide. The time it takes, the ad hocnature in some areas, the means by which coroners and juries are recruited and reports are compiled are all issues.

The service is mainly funded through the local authorities, but there are issues as regards proper funding. Coroners only get a payment per service and, needless to say, they may only be required for a small number of services in a year in some counties while they may be very busy in others. This does not contribute to the proper professional service we need to ensure throughout the country. While the measures brought forward in this Bill are welcome and need to be brought through, it is only a start, as I believe the Minister of State would acknowledge. I hope that the work done by the committee and the work that flows from the consultation process taking place at the moment will bring us to a place where we can have proper legislation that will professionalise the service and deliver for people around the country. We need an adequate and professional coronial service that will deliver for all the people.

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