Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 466: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the average waiting time for inquests in each county; if he has received requests from coroners for additional support to allow them to carry out inquests earlier; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28262/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I can inform the Deputy that Coroners are employed by Local Authorities to perform independent quasi-judicial functions and do not operate under the day to day direction of my Department. There is regular contact between representatives of the Coroners and my Department, particularly with respect to proposals for reform and modernisation of the service contained in the Coroners Bill, 2007, but my Department does not have a role in providing funding to the service under the current legislation.

Insofar as waiting times are concerned, I understand that the timeframe between the death of a person and the holding of any necessary inquest is dependent on a number of factors, including the receipt by the Coroner of the results of the post-mortem, as well as any tests carried out as part of the post-mortem process. In these circumstances it is not possible to estimate a meaningful average timeframe.