This Bill, as I explained on the first Reading, is a very short and Simple Bill, necessitated by circumstances arising out of the events of two or three years ago. During that period of conflict with the British, when the Statute law of the country was more honoured in the breach than in the observance, a Coroner was appointed for the City of Limerick who had not the statutory qualifications, and a Coroner was also appointed in Westmeath who did not possess the statutory qualifications. These men have since carried out the duties of Coroner, and it seems highly desirable to validate their appointments. That is one of two objects of the Bill. Section 1 of the Bill aims at maintaining the qualification of five years' Justice of the Peace, in the case of any person who was a Justice of the Peace on the 1st January, 1919, and who resigned as between that date and the 6th Dec., 1921. It is, of course, entirely optional with the County Council to appoint any person who has any of the three qualifications.
The qualifications prescribed by the Coroners' Act of 1881 are as follows:—"The person to be appointed must be a Doctor duly qualified and registered under the Act of 1858, a Barrister or Solicitor of the Supreme Court, or a Justice of the Peace of five years' standing." Now, it is with regard to that latter qualifications—a Justice of the Peace of five years' standing—that Section 1 of the Bill deals. We submit it is desirable to continue that qualification provided that the person was a Justice of the Peace on the 1st Jan., 1919, and resigned as between that and the 6th December, 1921. There are altogether three specific cases covered by the Bill, the case of the Coroner of Limerick City, the case of the Coroner in Westmeath, and Section 1, which covers one case that has arisen within the last few months dealing with the Coronership of Leix, where a person was appointed who had five years in the past as a Justice of the Peace and who resigned his office some time in 1921. I move "That the Bill be now read a second time."
