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Coroners Service

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 November 2017

Wednesday, 22 November 2017

Ceisteanna (134)

Eoin Ó Broin

Ceist:

134. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will meet with persons (details supplied) following the recent debate on the Coroners (Amendment) Bill 2016 in Seanad Éireann. [49509/17]

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Freagraí scríofa

The Coroners (Amendment) Bill 2016, a Private Members Bill was presented at Second Stage in Seanad Eireann on 18 October, 2017 by Senator Padraig Mac Lochlainn. It proposed to provide for the possibility of a verdict of Iatrogenic Suicide at a coroner's inquest. The primary motivation for the Bill derived from the tragic experience of the family of Jake McGill Lynch.

While accepting that the Senator’s intentions were well motivated, the Government could not accept the Bill as such would risk its use at inquest as being interpreted as apportioning some liability on the medical practitioner who may have prescribed any form of treatment or medication to the deceased person prior to taking his or her own life. As the inquest is an inquisitorial process, it is not permitted to consider questions of civil or criminal liability under section 30 of the Coroners Act 1962.

The Government had received the advice of the Office of the Attorney General on the Bill to the effect that to introduce a verdict of iatrogenic suicide at inquest would be legally unsound.  

The Coroners Society of Ireland indicated that it is very much opposed to this proposal, not least given that it might require coroners to reach verdicts that would infer liability on a medical practitioner.

I believe that a sufficient range of verdicts is available to coroners to draw on in the context of the cases envisaged by the Private Members Bill including those of suicide, open or medical misadventure. 

While I express again my deepest condolences to the family I must make it clear, that the Government does not propose to change the law in this regard.

That said, I have no objections to meeting with the family at a suitable date.

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