Grieving families 'unable to get truth on how loved ones died' over coroner system failings

Neil Fox in happier times with his late sister Donna. Mr Fox spoke to the Irish Examiner earlier this year about the lack of follow-up on coroner's court recommendations. See link at foot of this article. File picture

Structural failings in the coroners’ system mean that families are not provided with “an effective mechanism to get to the truth about how and why their loved one died”, an Oireachtas committee will hear on Tuesday.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) will tell the Oireachtas justice committee that grieving families are failed by the coroner system, which is in need of root-and-branch reform.

The ICCL will call for the coroners’ system to be properly resourced and put on a professional footing, with fully trained coroners and support staff around the country. Last year, the ICCL published a wide-ranging report which made 52 recommendations for reform of the system.

However, its head of legal and policy, Doireann Ansbro, will tell TDs and senators on Tuesday that little has changed since the year 2000, when an independent working group found the system was in dire need of reform.

Doireann Ansbro, the ICCL's head of legal and policy, expresses 'deep concern' at the absence of a structured process to follow up on coroner's court recommendations.  

“The absence of a structured process to follow up on jury and coroner recommendations is of deep concern,” Ms Ansbro will say. 

This must be urgently addressed, and is particularly important for recommendations that could prevent future deaths. 

The committee will hear delays in finding answers can span decades, and that recommendations made at inquests receive “little to no follow-up”. It is calling for a chief coroner or director to be appointed with responsibility for the management and operation of the service. 

It also wants an inspector to be put in place and the development of a code of practice, as well as a formal jury selection process.

Ms Ansbro will say steps taken to prepare for the reopened Stardust inquests shows how the process can be properly conducted in the most complex of cases.

However, given recommendations made at inquests are not routinely followed up, the ICCL will also say that the system “cannot be trusted to guarantee to families that what happened to their loved one will never happen again”.