Vol. 492 No. 7
210 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the fact that, due to the lack of a pathologist at Naas General Hospital, the county coroner has major difficulties carrying out his statutory functions; when he will provide funding to the Eastern Health Board to rectify the problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14871/98]
My Department has no responsibility in the provision of the county coroner service. However, I am informed by the Eastern Health Board that it makes every effort to facilitate the provision of pathology services to support the County Kildare coroner as required.
The new pathology laboratory at Tallaght will provide Naas General Hospital with an enhanced range of services. It will provide an out-of-hours service and will perform tests which are not available in Naas. In addition, staff at Naas General Hospital will be able to avail of consultant advisory services based in Tallaght. The pathology laboratory at the new hospital has also specifically indicated that support will be provided for both county coroner and non-coroner post-mortem services on site at Naas.
In relation to the problems referred to by the Deputy, I have raised these issues with the health board which has assured me that there have been no instances of delay in carrying out post-mortems and that all post-mortems for County Kildare are carried out at Naas General Hospital. My officers will be in discussions with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in order to ensure that all possible assistance is afforded to the county coroner.
