Select Committee Coroners Bill, 1925 debate -
Thursday, 29 Apr 1926

SECTION 13.

Mr. BROWN

I move:—New section. After the preceding section to add a new section as follows:—

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.

New Section 13 put and agreed to.

Mr. BROWN

I move:—New section. After the preceding section to add a new section as follows:—

14.—In any case where a coroner has been informed by a Superintendent of the Gárda Síochána that there is reason to believe that a person who has been already buried in his district has died either a violent or an unnatural death, he may apply to the Minister for Justice for an order directing the Gárda Síochána to have the body of such person exhumed; and the Minister, if he shall see fit, may make such order accordingly and thereupon the coroner shall have all the powers and duties in regard to such body as he would have had if such person had died within his district and he had become aware of the death before the burial of the body.

The power to exhume is new. In England it is done under order of the Home Secretary under Section 25 of the Burial Act, 1857, which does not apply to Ireland, and there is no statutory provision for it in this country.

CHAIRMAN

It was done here by the Crown. When I was a Law Officer several cases came before me to advise whether I should make an Order.

Sir EDWARD BIGGER

The Local Government Board used to carry out all the arrangements.

Question—" That new Section 14 stand part of the Bill "—put and agreed to.