I thank Deputy Power for raising this important issue. I am aware of the background to the recent case outlined by Deputy Power. I wish to express my sympathy to the family of the deceased man who lost his life in tragic circumstances. I do not, however, wish to dwell unnecessarily on the particular circumstances of the individual case and my reply is intended to respond to the general issue which the Deputy has raised.
The primary legislation in relation to coroners is the Coroners Act, 1962, for which the Minister for Justice has responsibility. The Act contains detailed provisions regarding the office of coroner, coroners' districts, salaries and so on as well as provisions governing the holding of inquests, carrying out postmortems etc.
Each coroner is empowered under section 13 of the Act to appoint as his or her deputy a person approved of for the purpose by the local authority in question. Such appointee is referred to as the deputy coroner. Thus there is a mechanism in place to ensure that a coroner is available to the public, the gardaí, etc. where the services of a coroner need to be called on even if the coroner is absent. I mention this because of the wording in the Deputy's question, although he clarified that point in his contribution.
In addition to responsibilities set out in the Act which devolve on the Minister for Justice, local authorities have a role in relation to coroners as also do certain hospitals in each coroner's district. Specifically, the local authorities employ and pay the salaries of coroners and they provide them with supplies of stationery and prescribed forms as they may reasonably require in the discharge of their duties.
Coroners do not carry out post-mortem examinations themselves; they engage medical pathologists for that purpose. The pathologists whose services the coroner must avail of to conduct post-mortem examinations are, for the most part, in the employment of the various health boards. These pathologists avail of the facilities of the hospitals at which they are employed in order to conduct the post-mortems in those cases in which the coroner has jurisdiction. The health boards do not, however, have any responsibility for ensuring the availability of a pathologist to conduct post-mortems for the coroner. This responsibility rests with the coroner on each such occasion. No difficulty arises where a coroner needs to secure the services of a pathologist during the working week since pathologists are on call to the health boards on a Monday to Friday basis. However, at weekends the coroner is obliged to secure a pathologist directly.
From time to time, a coroner may, despite his or her best endeavours, fail to secure the services of a pathologist and the coroner is obliged to postpone the conduct of the post-mortem over the weekend until the following Monday.
I understand that in the hospital to which the Deputy referred there is a standing arrangement whereby, when pathology facilities are required at weekends, the services of a retired pathologist are availed of. That person is, I am informed, almost invariably available at weekends and is willing to conduct a post-mortem at a weekend if the occasion arises. The person, however, was not available on the recent weekend when the death referred to occurred. Despite contacting a number of other pathologists, the coroner failed to secure the services of any other pathologist. At all times, the coroner was available to explain to the family members the exceptional circumstances regarding the non-availability of a pathologist.
The points raised by the Deputy will be brought to the attention of the Minister for Justice with a view to ensuring that the procedures for securing the services of a pathologist at weekends, as well as the steps to be taken for the conduct of post-mortems, should not occasion any undue distress for the relatives of the deceased person.
The Dáil adjourned at 11.10 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 5 July 1995.
