New legislation will empower Coroners’ courts
At present people who do not appear at inquests can only be punished with a token fine of 6.35, thus hampering the effectiveness of Coroners’ courts.
But under new legislation witnesses refusing to show up are likely to be hit with substantial fines.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell has ordered his officials to prepare legislation to amend sections of the Coroners Act 1962.
According to the Department of Justice, one of the areas to be dealt with in the Coroners Amendment Bill is the issue of compelling witnesses and documents to play a part at inquests.
The laws are the start of a process of modernisation and reform of the coroners’ system in this country, a department spokesman said.
The legislation will give more powers and a greater degree of credibility to the Coroners’ court. The proposed bill is seen by the minister as vital for assuring the public of the continuing high quality of the coroners’ service, a spokesman said.
The country’s 44 coroners, who conduct around 2,000 inquests a year, have been calling for laws to be introduced which would compel witnesses to attend and to lift restrictions on the numbers of medical witnesses who can be called.
The Government appointed group, which published a review of the Coroner Service in 2000, made 100 recommendations on the operation of the service but no legislation has been passed to implement these proposals.
The Coroner Service Review Group also sought:
* The establishment of a separate agency dedicated to the coroner service.
* A reduction in the number of coroners in the country.
* The establishment of coroner’s officer posts.
* More secure funding for postmortem and mortuary facilities.
* That pathologist services should be made available as of right to coroners.
Recommendations were also made on the retention of organs and extending a coroner’s jurisdiction to investigate the circumstances as well as medical cause of death.
The drafting of the legislation was welcomed by Fine Gael who criticised the current system with its token fines for failure to attend.
Fine Gael justice spokesman John Deasy said there was no way a person can be compelled to attend as a witness at a coroner’s court hearing and this was causing widespread disruption at inquests throughout the country.
The failure of witnesses to appear was causing delays to cases which was upsetting for families of the deceased who were awaiting an outcome to the hearings, he said.
The Coroner’s Society of Ireland spokesman was unavailable for comment yesterday.
