Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The amendment tabled by Deputies Daly and Ward seeks to commit the Government to bring forward legislation to reform the Coroners Acts having regard to recommendations in the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice report on the examination of the operation of the Coroner Service published in February 2023. I express my appreciation for the recommendations made by the committee. I do not object to any of that. The intention is that I will bring forward legislation that will take due regard of the recommendations made by the committee.

The issue I have with the amendment is that it is very clearly specifies 12 months. Obviously, I want to ensure the legislation is brought forward as quickly as possible but we have just finished a consultation, which was open to contributions from the general public, stakeholders and anybody else. It only closed on 19 January. We are processing, assessing and analysing the submissions at the moment. It is intended to bring proposals as to any necessary changes to Government for consideration. I fully agree and acknowledge that modernisation of the coroners service is needed. There are lots of things that do not work as they should. The service has not changed for a significant time and there are certainly ways in which it can be improved, many of which have been recommended by the committee. However, it would be challenging to guarantee absolutely it would be done in 12 months because we do not know what delays, issues or challenges might arise. I assure Deputies that it is absolutely the intention to do so. As they will know, this Bill is being brought forward for very specific reasons and there is a time limit associated with it as Covid provisions are running out.

The reason for the change as regards civil servant status is that we are moving to having full-time salaried coroners. We worked closely with the Attorney General's office to make sure that coroners' independence was in no way jeopardised or impacted. It should be borne in mind that they will be designated as civil servants of the State. The legal advice is that this does not in any way impinge on their independence or statutory role. We have other civil servants of the State who maintain independence, for example, the deputy master of the High Court, the probate officer, the examiner of the High Court and the Director of Public Prosecutions. We are moving in this direction because we are moving to full-time salaried coroners. I was very mindful that this should not impinge on anybody's independence.

While I support the intention behind the amendment, I have an issue with it specifying 12 months. We do not know what might arise but I am absolutely committed to bringing this forward as quickly as possible to reform a system that needs to be reformed. I will most likely be working in a collegiate and collaborative spirit with all colleagues in the House to that end.

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