Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware Coroners are independent office holders and decision to direct a post mortem examination and / or hold an Inquest in to the death of a person, in any particular set of circumstances, rests with the individual coroner. My Department has no role in directing the work of Coroners during their death investigation function.

The Coroners Act 1962 confers on a Coroner a general duty to hold an inquest where a body is ‘lying’ in their district, and where the death may, in the Coroner’s opinion, have occurred in a violent or unnatural manner, or expectantly and from unknown causes, or where there is another specific statutory duty to hold an inquest. The Act applies to deaths abroad where a body has been repatriated.