Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have up to ten minutes. As I say when I am in the Chair, consider it a maximum, not a target.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, for being in the House once again. I appreciate that this is a very technical Bill. However, we also appreciate the incredibly valuable work the coroner does and we are talking, too, in terms of the fact the senior coroner for Dublin is currently hearing the Stardust inquest. We are 40 years on from that at this stage and it is still an awful tragedy that affects so many families. We are still talking about the issues that arise from that.

I appreciate that this is an interim Bill, but because I am not going to rehash the briefing notes we have, which are basically exactly the same and came from the same Department as the Minister of State, I will instead draw the Minister of State's attention to an email we all got - all Members of Seanad Éireann, the Cathaoirleach, specifically, and the Taoiseach and Tánaiste - from the president of the Coroners Society of Ireland, Dr. Eleanor Fitzgerald, who is the Mayo coroner. The Minister of State might detail his response to what she wrote. I appreciate that this is interim legislation. It is important because otherwise the work of the Dublin district particularly but coroners generally would be impeded. The correspondence states:

The Coroners Society writes this letter to all the above named in connection to the Coroners (Amendment) Bill No. 2 of 2024. It may be noted that the society is generally consulted on such matters but noticed in this instance that neither the society nor the affected persons have been consulted. There are two elements to the Bill that give rise for grave concern on the part of the society.

While I appreciate we are only on Second Stage, the compromise in their view is "the independence of the coroner, which has always been a core principle of the office. They note the proposal that "the coroners appointed under the Bill will serve as civil servants rather than independent quasi-judicial officers appointed by the State but independent of the State and its agencies" and the proposal "to appoint coroners based on short fixed-term contracts with no security or independence of tenure". However, the Minister of State alluded to the fact that some of the terms and conditions are better than what is currently in place. These changes are, in their view:

...with respect, flawed and profoundly compromise the office and set an unacceptable precedent. This is particularly so given that in very many instances the coroner will be investigating actions or omissions of State agencies. Further, these proposals constitute a significant diminishment in the role and functions of the coroner and it is contrary to the public interest and it is further contrary to recommendations of the justice committee's own document on coroners published in February of last year. While the society recognises the urgent need to extend the present term of office of those coroners to the Dublin district [which I think we all do and I am sure others will give their own thoughts on that] whose office ceases on the 21st of February next [which is within a month of where we are now] this could be achieved with a short, simple Bill.

It seems to me they are considering that this is going a bit further than it needs to go in the absence of good longer term legislation to which the Minister of State has already alluded. They are saying that what is proposed in the Bill will have profound consequences to warrant a detailed and in-depth examination. In the letter to us, they wrote "in the Dáil", but I am sure they mean in the Dáil and Seanad.

It is very important legislation. We do not want to impede the work the coroners do and we all appreciate the great work they do. It is very painstaking and difficult work that I know a lot of us would not especially want to be doing every day. Anyone who has ever watched any detective series sees the coroner being brought in and having to investigate very difficult situations in many instances. The Minister of State might deal with that in his response to give the House and ourselves and, indeed, the Coroners Society of Ireland comfort in what is proposed longer term as well as in this Bill.