Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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99. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the proposals there are to reform the coronial system and the Coroners Act 1962 to bring it in line with international standards; the reforms proposed; and when is it envisaged that they will be implemented. [47408/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Coroners Bill 2007 is before the Seanad, having been restored to the Order Paper on the initiative of the previous Minister for Justice and Equality.

The Coroners Bill, as published, provides for the comprehensive reform of the existing legislation and structures relating to coroners and for the establishment of a new Coroner Service. The Bill incorporates many of the recommendations made by the Coroners Review Group in 2000 and by the Coroners Rules Committee in 2003, and also aims to further advance the State's compliance with its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, the Bill needs review to take proper account both of intervening legal and coronial developments and, as regards the organisational reform, of the more constrained financial circumstances than those which prevailed when the Bill was originally drafted.

My Department is working to complete the review, and I intend then in the New Year to put in place a firm plan for progressing the Bill, having regard to other pressing commitments.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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100. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the protocol for dealing with inquests which are within the remit of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. [47409/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may aware, the legislation governing coroner matters is the Coroners Act, 1962. Under this legislation, the coroner is an independent officer charged with the investigation of certain reportable deaths. The primary public expression of that investigation is the inquest which seeks factually to discover the circumstances of the person's death. I am satisfied that the inquest process, in conjunction where appropriate with other relevant investigative mechanisms, meets the State's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and in particular Article 2 of the Convention.

Section 60 (5) of the Coroners Act 1962, inserted by Section 24(b) of the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013, provides for 8 categories of cases where a coroner may make a request to the Legal Aid Board for legal services to be provided for a family member of a deceased person. These relate to the circumstances where a person has died in the custody or care of the State or where the coroner is of the opinion that the continuation of the circumstances would be prejudicial to the health or safety of the public. Applications for legal representation at inquests are currently considered on a case by case basis and a formal scheme providing for the statutory provision of such representation will be in place in January, 2015.