Dáil debates

Thursday, 17 November 2005

5:00 pm

Photo of Charlie O'ConnorCharlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me the opportunity to raise this important issue. I have had the privilege of being a Member for three and a half years and he has been kind enough to assist me a number of times. This matter is by far the saddest and most profound that I have introduced to the House. I welcome the attendance of my friend and colleague, the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue. I know he will be sympathetic towards this case.

This is the story of Pierce Nowlan, a young baby who was born in the Coombe Hospital prematurely on 14 October 2002. He had a medical condition which required a minor procedure and was taken to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children where he died on his second birthday, 14 October 2004. As the Ceann Comhairle is probably aware, his parents Jean and Stephen, as well as his paternal grandmother Phyllis, are in the Visitors Gallery. I am sensitive about their attendance and I am sure he would want me to welcome them. I assure them of my thoughts and prayers as I know this is a difficult situation for them. They are members of my community, and I wish to highlight their concerns and sense of upset with regard to this matter as sensitively as possible. It is important to show solidarity with the family and to try to help them in their quest for what they perceive as the need for justice and the need to establish the truth as to what happened to their baby. I have had much contact with the family in the last year and am aware of the high level of upset within both the family and the general community in respect of this case.

Many people will have seen the recent publicity highlighting the case in the media generally and particularly on television. The family gave a good interview on "Ireland AM" last Monday morning. The family members need assistance and ask the political system to help. They wanted me to note that they have met the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, and were satisfied with the meeting. However, they want action. At present they are going through the coroner process. They want to know why they cannot establish the full truth as to what happened to their baby, why the surgeon's report in its fullest form has not been made available to them or to the coroner, and why there is a restriction on the number of witnesses who can be called by the coroner. They have told me that the coroner has been sympathetic in that regard and have reminded me that 23 people were present in the operating theatre in Our Lady's Hospital, Crumlin, when their baby, Pierce, died. It is important that they gain access to the truth and to the information they seek.

On a political note, I tabled Questions Nos. 474 and 475 on 15 November 2005 on the need to reform the Coroners Act 1962 rather than on this specific case. Similar questions were also tabled by colleagues from the Green Party and Fine Gael. The Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism should convey a message to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, to the effect that there appears to be all-party support for a common approach to dealing with the business of the Coroners Act. I imagine the Minister, given his own experience, will understand that.

At present, the family is trying to highlight the need to expedite the process by which the new legislation will be brought before the Cabinet and to expedite its enactment. The coroner's court will then be able to act under the new legislation to provide the family with the answers it wants. This issue differs from the matters I normally raise in the House and it is important to support the Nowlan family. In his statement, I hope the Minister can assure the family that this case is seen in the serious light it deserves. The family members have not highlighted this issue simply for their own sake. While they are anxious to establish the facts pertaining to their case so that, without forgetting Pierce, they can get on with their lives, they have also made the point that other families may be similarly affected. This has been a brave act for the family members, particularly for Stephen and Jean. They wish to prevent this from happening to any other family and that, whatever about the trauma of losing a baby, this particular aspect will be cleared up. I appreciate the Ceann Comhairle's courtesy and thank him for providing me with this opportunity in the presence of the Nowlan family. I look forward to the Minister's reply.

Photo of John O'DonoghueJohn O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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I am standing in for my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform who had a prior engagement this afternoon and on whose behalf I wish to apologise. I thank Deputy O'Connor for raising this matter and I join him in welcoming the Nowlan family to the House.

Deputy O'Connor will be aware that in response to Questions Nos. 474 and 475 of 15 November 2005, the Minister stated the following:

The report of the working group on the review of the coroner service published in December 2000 recommended a comprehensive overhaul and modernisation of the coroner service in Ireland, with regard to the legislation governing the work of coroners, the support services available to coroners and the structural organisation of the coroner service. In keeping with the commitment in the Government legislative programme, announced by the Chief Whip on 27 September 2005, detailed proposals providing for that comprehensive reform are currently being finalised in [the] Department [of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.]

The Minister expects to be in a position to submit them to the Government before the end of the year. He has personally outlined this position to the parents of Pierce Nowlan. An inquest by the Dublin City Coroner has been opened into Pierce's death. That inquest stands adjourned and Deputies will appreciate that it is not appropriate to discuss particular matters in this regard.

The current Irish legislation, namely, the Coroners Act 1962, is outdated and can no longer be said to equip coroners with the appropriate measures to conduct the best possible death investigation. A commitment to reform has been indicated by the inclusion of a proposed coroners Bill in the Government's current legislative programme. A considerable amount of work has been done in recent years with regard to reviewing the coroner service and in bringing forward proposals for reform. This found its primary expression in the report of the coroners review group in 2000 and in the report of the rules committee published in 2003.

The review group recommended a comprehensive overhaul and modernisation of the coroner service in Ireland. The coroners' rules committee produced a report which proposed the first detailed set of coroners' rules for Ireland. These have been widely disseminated since publication and consideration will be given to whether and in what form they might be put on a statutory basis.

There have been significant developments since the publication of these two domestic reports. Ireland is not alone among common law jurisdictions in engaging in reform of the coroners service at this time. In the United Kingdom, the coroner service review has recommended significant structural changes to the coroner services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Another outside influence in our legislative process will be those judgments of the European Court of Human Rights which have a bearing on the work of coroners. The European Court of Justice in recent years has made a number of important decisions in such cases. These cases, involving particular sets of circumstances, have added to the jurisprudence concerning the European convention. Our statutory law needs to be updated to take into account that jurisprudence.

Reform efforts elsewhere, in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia, have been directed towards comprehensive rather than partial reform. We are in a position now to learn from this experience in other countries. The aim of the Minister, as part of the legislative reform, will be to put a more logical and coherent shape to the coroners service. Three broad issues — legislative, structural and support services — were considered of equal importance by the review group. Foremost among the issues which the Minister will address in the forthcoming Bill is that of the scope of the coroner's inquiry. The coroners review group considered the issue of the scope of the inquest and, in one of its major recommendations, proposed an extension of the remit of the coroner to "establish the surrounding circumstances of death including the medical cause of death".

The Minister believes we need to make a positive statement of the role of the coroner in inquiring into certain deaths. There is a requirement for greater clarity on the nature of the death investigation by the coroner, up to and including the inquest. Not all death investigations by a coroner necessarily lead to inquests. The new legislation will also set out clearly the procedures for the conduct of inquests by the coroner. With regard to mandatory inquests, there is a requirement for more explicit provisions to deal with those circumstances concerning deaths in custody or of children in care where the State or its institutions have an involvement.

An issue which has been well highlighted, and no less so in this instance involving the Nowlan family, is that of the summoning and the conduct of witnesses and the taking of evidence at inquests. The Minister has stated on a number of occasions that he intends to abolish the current restriction on the number of medical witnesses the coroner may call to give evidence at an inquest. He also intends to significantly increase the penalty for failure to respond to a summons to appear as a witness or to co-operate at an inquest. The contempt provision available to coroners under the 1962 Act is not satisfactory and is likely to be replaced by providing new powers for the coroner to compel attendance, co-operation and the production of documents.

The coroners review group was very much concerned about the need to ensure a high quality coroners service with optimal resources and supports. In that regard, it envisaged an evolution to a regionalised structure in which there would be fewer than the current 48 coronial districts. With such a change in structure, it may well be necessary to provide for arrangements for mostly full-time coroners in any new regionalised structure. The Minister is determining the optimum management structure for a reformed coroners service as recommended by the review group. He expects that the proposed new comprehensive coroners Bill will address all current concerns about the law and practice of coroners and will provide a system which will be seen to be effective, humane and accessible.

Again, on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I confirm the commitment to bring proposals for a new coroners Bill to Government before the end of the year.