Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I also welcome the debate. I acknowledge that this Bill is an effort to alleviate some of the pressures experienced in the coronial service. We are all conscious that we are having this debate at a time when there are huge backlogs in the service.

Coroners provide a vital service in technical terms but also do a lot in shaping the experience of bereavement for families or friends who have lost a loved one. They ensure bereaved families are informed and that any questions the latter have are addressed, and they do so compassionately and sympathetically.

The Oireachtas justice committee report – I thank my committee colleagues for their excellent work – calls for the system to be centred on the bereaved. I concur with this call. Families experiencing the grief of loss must be given as much support as possible to help them through the process. To do so, we need to ensure that coroners are well equipped to do their job effectively. The backlogs we are seeing, with families waiting up to two years for an inquest, indicate families are very much being let down. The temporary appointment of an additional two coroners for Dublin in response to the pandemic was welcome, but that was a stop-gap measure. This Bill is also a stop-gap measure, like the numerous other amendments we have seen in recent years. We need fundamental reform of the Coroner Service.

I acknowledge that public consultation on the matter has recently concluded, and I am sure the Minister of State will be working on producing legislation off the back of that. I am concerned, though, because we have been here before. In 2005, former Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte introduced a short amending Bill that aimed to fix one particular deficit in the legislation. It was accepted by the Government and became law. At the time, the then Minister for Justice commented that he had produced a Bill to overhaul the system, that it was before the Attorney General for observations and that he intended on publishing the heads, of which there were over 190, for public consultation. Prior to that, the previous justice Minister had already begun the process of reforming the Coroner Service and had established a coroners' review group. The expert group published its report in 2000. It included 110 recommendations, covering many of the issues in the service and the legislation. The review, report and recommendations, published over 20 years ago, have yet to result in a published Bill. Instead of one, we now have another stop-gap amendment and another coroner reform consultation. This must be longest review of an inadequate service in the history of the State. The issues and difficulties within the Coroner Service have been ongoing for decades, and even before the expert group reported in 2000. The 1962 Act remains the principal Act, and the structures of the Coroner Service remain, in large part, as prescribed in that Act, save for some recent amendments.

Many of the issues within the service could, without doubt, be addressed with proper and thorough legislation that would modernise the service and make it fit for today's purpose. The issues have already been identified, consultations have already taken place and authors of reports have already made recommendations. I do not see why we need another public consultation that is only going to delay the necessary fundamental reforms.

As stated, the Bill is a stop-gap measure. There is concern that it has been drafted without consultation with coroners or other relevant people. A letter we all received by email yesterday afternoon from the president of the Coroners Society of Ireland, Dr. Eleanor Fitzgerald, confirmed as much. Others have made reference to it in the House already this evening. I will not go into too much detail or repeat what others have said, other than to say that, in essence, the society is concerned that this Bill compromises the independence and functioning of the office of coroner and sets a dangerous precedent. That is an extremely serious concern and one that warrants the greatest attention from the Minister of State. If the Government is to press forward with this Bill, it needs to work closely with the society to ensure the Bill can do what is hoped without undermining the Coroner Service.

I am sympathetic to the intentions of this Bill. We all want to see the backlogs cleared and see a proper, fit-for-purpose coroner service. The service is snowed under at the moment but we cannot solve one problem by creating another. Continuing to tweak around the edges is not going to help anybody either. We need to see the long-promised and well-overdue reform of the service's structures. The principal Act is still the 1962 Act although the issues that present have been so obvious for so long.

This should be given urgent attention by the Government. The public consultation has already taken place. I urge the Government to act swiftly on the outcomes of the consultation and get the legislation to us so we can properly scrutinise it and get it through the Houses.