Cork coroner's office to get two new staff amid 'substantial increase' in inquests

Cork City Coroner Philip Comyn had warned a failure to provide staffing would result in an impact on services

Cork City Coroner Philip Comyn has raised the issue of staff shortages at the office with Cork City Council since 2019. Picture: Dan Linehan

Two new staff are being provided for the Cork City Coroner’s Office as the number of deaths handled by the office has more than trebled since 2014.

Cork City Council has confirmed “the appointment of staffing for the Coroner’s Office is currently in progress in Cork City Council”, after a business case was submitted to the council in November by Cork City Coroner Philip Comyn seeking more staff.

The document, obtained by the Irish Examiner through the Freedom of Information Act, outlined the office had just two clerical staff despite an increase in demands on the office in the past decade.

In 2014, 917 deaths were reported to the coroner’s office, while 1,337 were reported in 2021, according to the business case.

The document said there had been a 20% growth in the workload in the office year on year for the past five years. 

Mr Comyn outlined in the document: “This resulted in an 18% increase in the number of inquests held in Cork City alone over the same period. The number of post-mortems undertaken has similarly increased. 

This substantial increase in the number of inquests reflects the increased demand placed on the office for the provision of its most time-consuming and complex range of services.

“The impact of covid-19 restrictions has had a major impact on the number of inquests pending, since 2019.” 

The coroner has raised the issue of staff shortages at the office with Cork City Council since 2019, which has responsibility for staffing the office. The issue has also been raised in the Dáil in the past year.

In appealing for two new staff in the first half of this year, and a further two before the end of this year, Mr Comyn warned a failure to provide staffing would result in an impact on services.

“The office will be required to prioritise activities and restrict certain activities in order to continue to provide a service with the current inadequate staffing level,” he said.

The business case outlined that a waiting list would have to be developed for the issuing of death certificates, while there would also have to be the “creation of a prioritisation system to deal with urgent, complex cases leading to delays in the proper administration of the estates of the deceased not deemed to be urgent”.