asked the Minister for Health whether he is aware that recently in Limerick, when the body of a drowned woman was washed up from the Shannon, the services of an ambulance were refused for the purpose of bringing the body into the city; and that it was intimated that this work should have been done by the undertakers; and whether, in view of the fact that a body found in such conditions may well be required for post mortem examination to establish the cause of death, and that it is not prepared for conffining by the undertaker, he will take steps to ensure that an ambulance should be available in any such case in future.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ambulance Service.
2.
I am not aware that the services of an ambulance were refused in this case. From inquiries which I have made from the Limerick Health Authority, I understand that an ambulance was provided by Limerick Fire Brigade to convey the body of the deceased from the place in which it was found in County Clare to the mortuary of a hospital in Limerick city as soon as it was established that the body would be accepted in that mortuary. I have been unable in the time available to obtain information which would confirm or refute that it was intimated, by whom is not stated, that "this work should have been done by the undertakers". The legal position regarding the removal of a body found in circumstances similar to those in this case is set out in Section 46 of the Coroners Act, 1962, to which I would refer the Deputy.
As regards the last part of the question, it is not the function of the Minister for Health to take the steps requested. The purpose for which ambulances are provided by health authorities is the conveyance of living persons; and the use of ambulances for the conveyance of deceased persons is open to objection, in certain circumstances to considerable objection. Health authorities, however, are authorised, when one of their ambulances is summoned to the scene of a recent accident, to transport a victim of such accident to the relevant hospital, even where he or she is apparently dead.