A major programme of reform of the Coroner Service is to commence with the appointment of an advisory committee leading to a public consultation on the reform of the Coroner Service later this year. The consultation will seek people’s views about the structure of the service and key ancillary services such as pathology and client/user engagement. The advisory committee is inviting expressions of interests from those suitably qualified – the Committee is to be in place for an initial meeting on September 10th.
Reform of the service has been sought for several years most recently by the Safer Births Ireland Group. Following unsatisfactory experiences with hospital management, HSE and Department of Health officials the Group want a complete restructuring of the approach to both Internal and External investigations into infant mortality, alongside a comprehensive review of the recently developed Open Disclosure and Notification legislation before its formal enactment.
Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath is supporting the group and says statutory timelines must be put in place to eliminate delays in revealing details of incidents, and concluding any related court cases.
