Vol. 552 No. 1
244 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Finance if he will make immediate funding available to the State Laboratory to reduce the delay in having reports prepared for inquests; if his attention has been drawn to the huge backlog within this Department due to understaffing and the lack of finance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11412/02]
I have provided new posts for the State Laboratory in recognition of a significant increase in its workload in recent years and for the purpose of improving service levels and response times in certain areas, including the analysis of results required for inquests. I sanctioned 11 new posts in June 2000, of which four were assigned to the toxicology area, and I sanctioned a further two new posts in December 2001 specifically for this area. State Laboratory management has informed me that it is seeking to clear the existing backlog of human toxicology tests and, with this new staffing complement fully in place, it will aim to achieve a regular processing time for these tests of a minimum of three weeks and a maximum of eight weeks, subject to the complexity of the analyses required.
