CORONERS' (AMENDMENT) BILL, 1926—THIRD STAGE.
The Dáil went into Committee on the Coroners' (Amendment) Bill, 1926.
Sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 were agreed to.
I beg to move Amendment 1. To insert before Section 5 a new section as follows, viz.:—
Every person residing within a coroner's district shall be liable to serve on the jury at any inquest held in that district whether he is or is not a householder, and whether he is or is not rated to the relief of the poor, save only such persons as are for the time being, for some reason other than lack of rateable qualifications, not liable to, or disqualified for, or exempted from service on juries in the Courts of Justice.
The explanation of this proposed new section is that in the past the qualification for a juryman under the Act of 1846 was a poor law valuation of £4. If a sufficient number of such persons was not forthcoming, the police could summon any householder in the county. Persons exempt from ordinary jury service were also exempt from service on coroners' juries. The effect of the amendment is to recognise the actual facts of the situation, which are, and I think have always been, that the police frequently summon the first available man, and do not inquire whether he is or not a householder, or whether he is or not rated for the relief of the poor in £4. We propose to continue the exemption of persons such as barristers, doctors, people under twenty-one and over sixty-five, who are exempted from ordinary jury service.
Question put and agreed to.
Question—"That the new section be inserted"—put and agreed to.
Sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were agreed to.
SECTION 11.
(1) Without prejudice to the power of a coroner holding an inquest to direct a medical witness whom he may summon under Section 33 of the Coroners (Ireland) Act, 1846, to make a post-mortem examination of the body of the deceased, the coroner may, at any time after he has decided to hold an inquest, inform the Minister for Justice by writing under his hand that it is in his opinion desirable to have made—
(a) a post-mortem examination of the body of the deceased; or
(b) a special examination by way of analysis, test or otherwise of such parts or contents of the body or such other substances or things as ought in the opinion of the coroner to be submitted to analysis, tests or other special examination with a view to ascertaining how the deceased came by his death;
or to have both such examinations made, at the same time stating his reasons for such opinion: and the Minister for Justice may thereupon appoint a legally qualified medical practitioner to make such post-mortem examination or special examination, or may appoint any other person whom he considers to possess special qualifications for making such a special examination as aforesaid to make the special examination.
(2) If any person who has made such a post-mortem or special examination as aforesaid is summoned by the coroner as a witness he may be asked to give evidence as to his opinion upon any matter arising out of the examination, and as to how in his opinion the deceased came by his death.
(3) The fee payable in respect of any such post-mortem or special examination shall be not less than ten guineas, and if the person making such post-mortem or special examination is summoned by the coroner as a witness to attend an inquest he shall be given such further allowance as the coroner with the approval of the Minister for Justice shall determine.
I beg to move Amendment No. 2:—
In sub-section (3), line 55, delete the words "not less than ten guineas" and substitute therefor the words "a sum not exceeding ten guineas, or such larger sum as the coroner shall with the approval of the Minister for Justice determine."
It is considered inadvisable to say that the fee should never be less than ten guineas. A case might occur where ten guineas would be rather excessive. This leaves it open to give up to ten guineas in any case and more in special cases with the approval of the Minister for Justice. That seems sufficiently flexible. I may say that the amendment was suggested by the Minister for Local Government.
Question put and agreed to.
Question:—"That Section 11, as amended, stand part of the Bill," put and agreed to.
Section 12 was agreed to.
SECTION 13.
(1) Where by the direction or at the request of a coroner a post-mortem or special examination of a body is to be made, the coroner may, subject as hereinafter provided, order the removal of the body to any place which may be provided for the purpose either within his jurisdiction or within any adjoining district in which another coroner has jurisdiction:
Provided that the coroner shall not under this section order the removal of the body to any place other than a place within his jurisdiction provided by a sanitary authority except with the consent of the person or authority by whom the place is provided.
(2) Where a coroner orders under this section the removal of a body to any place outside his jurisdiction, he may authorise the burial of the body after examination, notwithstanding that it is outside his jurisdiction, and if he does not do so he shall order the removal of the body after examination to a place within his jurisdiction.
(3) The removal of a body in pursuance of an order made by a coroner under this section to any place outside his jurisdiction shall not affect his powers and duties in relation to the body or the inquest thereon, nor shall it confer or impose any rights, powers or duties upon any other coroner.
(4) The expenses of any removal ordered by a coroner under this section shall be defrayed as part of the expenses incurred by him in the course of his duties.
I beg to move Amendment No. 3:—"To delete sub-section 4."
That sub-section shows how one particular expense is to be met. And Deputies will see by the last amendment that it is intended to insert a general section showing how all the fees and expenses under this Bill are to be met. There is no objection to the sub-section beyond that it is particular in its terms and we are inserting a general section.
Amendment put and agreed to.
Question—"That Section 13. as amended, stand part of the Bill" put and agreed to.
Section 14 agreed to.
SECTION 15.
(1) The appointment of a coroner under the provisions of Section 153 of the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, 1840, Section 1 of the Borough Coroners (Ireland) Act, 1860, and sub-section (1) of Section 14 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, shall be subject to the approval of the Minister for Justice.
(2) The Minister for Justice may, if he thinks fit, remove any coroner from his office for misconduct or if satisfied that, by reason of physical or mental infirmity, he is incapable of the due discharge of his duties.
I beg to move Amendment 4:—
To delete sub-section (1) and to substitute therefor a new sub-section as follows:—
(1) The Office of Coroner shall be deemed to be an office to which the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926 (No. 39 of 1926), applies and that Act shall apply accordingly with the modification that in relation to that office the expression "the Minister" in that Act shall mean the Minister for Justice.
The sub-section at present in the Bill means that coroners shall continue to be elected as heretofore, save that the Minister for Justice is to have a veto. The new proposal is that instead of the Minister's veto, the machinery of the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926, shall apply. That Act applies automatically to every office and employment under a local authority, the qualifications for which are wholly or in part professional or technical. So that it might well be argued that if nothing were expressly enacted in this Bill on the point the machinery of the Act would apply to the appointment of a coroner, the position being one for which professional qualifications, medical or legal, are required.
Question put and agreed to.
Question—"That Section 15, as amended, be added to the Bill"—put and agreed to.
I beg to move Amendment 5—before Section 16, to insert a new section as follows:—
5. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, or in any other enactment, the administrative counties of Tipperary North Biding and Tipperary South Riding shall cease to be one county for all purposes relating to coroners and each of the said counties shall be one county for such purposes.
At present, under various Statutes and Orders, which were kept alive by the Act of 1898, the whole of the County Tipperary is one county for coroners' purposes. That arrangement has proved unsatisfactory. As an example of that, I may mention that there is one district partly in the North Riding and partly in the South Riding. The coroner for that district died in 1924. The county councils failed to agree as to a successor, and finally the North Riding appointed a coroner for its part of the district, and the South Riding part remained, and still remains, vacant. We, in fact, are simply completing the separation which the two Ridings themselves have effected, de facto.
Question put and agreed to.
New section ordered to be inserted.
SECTION 16.
(1) Within twelve months from the date of the passing of this Act every council having power to appoint a coroner shall revise the salaries payable to the coroner or coroners appointed by such council: provided that the salary payable to a coroner holding office at the date of the passing of this Act shall in no case be diminished.
(2) If, after such revision, a coroner is of opinion that the salary payable to him is insufficient, he may appeal to the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, who shall thereupon after consultation with the Minister for Justice fix the salary at such rate as he thinks proper, and the salary so fixed shall come into force as from such date as he may determine.
(3) In fixing the rate of salary payable to a coroner under this section regard shall be had to the nature and extent of his duties and to all the circumstances of the case.
I move:—
In sub-section (1), line 66, to insert before the word "revise" the words "subject to the approval of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health."
The Minister for Local Government and Public Health thinks he should have a right to forbid an extravagant revision of salary. The tendency is not in that direction, but it might occur, and he thinks provision should be made-against it.
Amendment put and agreed to.
I move:—
In sub-sectipn (2), lines 4 and 5, to delete all words from the word "if" to the word "insufficient" and substitute therefor the words "If a coroner is aggrieved by the neglect or refusal of a council to revise his salary pursuant to sub-section (1) of this section or by the result of such revision."
The proposed amendment to sub-section 2 is to cover the case of a Council refusing to make any revision whatsoever. Without the proposed amendment, the coroner would be in the position that whereas he would have an appeal against an inadequate revision, he would have no appeal against a blank refusal to carry out any reduction at all, unless he went to the High Courts for a mandamus.
Question put and agreed to.
Question:—"That Section 16, as amended, stand part of the Bill"—put and agreed to.
Section 17 agreed to.
I move:—
To insert before Section 18 a new section as follows, viz.:—
For the purposes of the appointment of a coroner or of the amalgamation of coroners districts, any vacancy in the office of coroner existing at the time of the passing of this Act shall be deemed to have occurred immediately after the passing of this Act.
The sole purpose of this amendment is to give to the South Riding of the County Tipperary a chance to fill the vacancy referred to just now in dealing with the previous amendment. The time limit will begin to run as from the commencement of this Act. They will have three months to make the appointment, and if, by that time, they fail to make it, then the Minister can take the necessary steps.
Amendment put and agreed to.
New section ordered to be inserted.
Sections 18 and 19 agreed to.
Section 20 agreed to.
I move:—
To insert before Section 21 a new section as follows, viz.:—
Any fees or expenses payable under, or incurred in the execution of this Act shall be defrayed out of the like source as the expenses of a coroner under the Coroners (Ireland) Act, 1846.
I dealt with this amendment just now in proposing the deletion of sub-section 4 of Section 13. All fees and expenses in connection with inquests have always been met out of rates. There has never been a State contribution. It should be noted that our objection to sub-section 4 of Section 13 was merely because it was particular in its nature and because it was proposed to insert this general section.
Amendment put and agreed to.
Question—"That Section 21 stand part of the Bill"—put and agreed to.
Title agreed to.
The Dáil went out of Committee.
Bill reported with amendments.
Report Stage ordered for Tuesday, 7th December, 1926.
