‘Dangerous’ wait for pathologist under attack

THE 18-month delay in making the appointment of a second state pathologist was last night described as “leaving Ireland very dangerously exposed”.

Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe said that since the Sophie Toscan de Plantier murder in west Cork, the need to have a second pathologist was well established.

But, describing the delay in recruiting a deputy to State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy as inexcusable, he said: “The Department of Justice has a case to answer. One person cannot provide 24-hour cover for 52 weeks of the year.”

His Labour counterpart Joe Costello said that the Department had been very remiss a in not addressing the vacancy more urgently.

“They have left it drift in a very lackadaisical fashion. This comes at a time when the murder rates in Ireland continue to increase,” Mr Costello said.

Dr Cassidy has effectively been working on her own since the retirement of her predecessor, John Harbison, in February 2003.

Although Dr Cassidy was the clear favourite to replace Dr Harbison, the Government refused to sanction advertising for the deputy position at the same time.

The Department of Justice were unable to advertise the deputy position until after Dr Cassidy’s appointment was confirmed in January of this year. The recruitment process has been ongoing since then.

However, Department of Justice sources said last night that the appointment of a new Deputy State Pathologist was “imminent”. They said that the delay had arisen primarily because of the unusual set of circumstances that meant that both positions could not be advertised at once.

However, Fine Gael and Labour both said last night that the Government should have anticipated this situation and not left an 18-month gap.

At present, Dr Cassidy can call on assistance or cover from a panel of three pathologists, who work on short-term contracts. They are doctors Margaret Bolster, Declan Gilsenan and Richard Sheppard.

The latter, who has conducted post-mortem examinations in both Limerick and Drogheda over the past two days, lives on the Isle of Man but locates himself in Ireland for his contracts.