Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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650. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to provide improved facilities available to the State Pathologist; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38918/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the Office of the State Pathologist (OSP) is located together with the Dublin District Coroner on the site of the former Garda Station in Whitehall in Dublin. A recent independent report found that the current facility, completed in 2016, has provided a vastly improved standard of accommodation than what predated it, in which a substantially increased caseload has been managed.

I am committed to ensuring that the Office has the resources it needs to carry out its functions effectively. Additional pathologist and administrative resources have been assigned to the Office in recent years, including a 14% increase in funding in 2022. In light of the views of users reflected in the above report as to the current facility's suitability into the medium term, consideration is also being given to the question of developing future facilities so as to maintain a modern and efficient forensic pathology service.