Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Senator Frances Fitzgerald. I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for staying to listen to Members' contributions. I am aware of his busy schedule.

In my brief contribution, I wish to emphasise and focus on the impact on families of the deceased. I have seen at first hand, as I am sure have many public representatives, the stress and trauma families suffer when a family member dies in tragic circumstances and during the fulfilment of the inquest process.

Fine Gael welcomes the general thrust of the Bill which certainly will streamline and modernise what has been and ad hoc system to date, the excellent service coroners have given notwithstanding. It is important in passing legislation to provide the resources to deliver on its provisions. There is no point in doing otherwise. Unless we deliver to the families, where it matters, there is no point in legislating in this area. It is excellent to have the Bill before us but we should see proper resources given to coroners to carry out the functions given to them under this legislation.

The post mortem process needs to be subject to serious analysis. Senator Jim Walsh and Senator Rónán Mullen said there were significant delays in results being returned from post mortems, which causes much unnecessary stress for families. I am aware where people were told it could take up to nine months to have toxicology reports returned. This is unacceptable. The circumstances were tragic and thanks to the intervention of the Ombudsman, the reports were returned within two months. A genuine attempt is being made through this legislation to address these problems.

The legislation has the potential to be excellent in that it gives coroners the resources they require to provide a professional and more modern service. We should remember that the coroner service is one for the living, for those left behind. I am glad to be a Member of the House to see the legislation being passed and I will watch it carefully in the future.