A leading academic has called for the coroners' service to be made more accessible and to improve its communication with the public.
Dr Denis Cusack, Professor of Legal Medicine at UCD, said a very clear programme of recommendations had been set out by the working group of the coroners' service, and these should be implemented in full as soon as possible. He made his case in an editorial in the current issue of the Medicolegal Journal of Ireland.
He warned: "A piecemeal or politically eclectic approach by individual Government departments or interested parties will not achieve what must be achieved and it will not be acceptable to the public or to those who carry out their functions within the present system."
The working group identified three key areas for reform: legal, support services and structural.
The report said there must be a redesigning and updating of the legislation governing the coroners' service; that the Government must ensure all necessary support services are available; that it must introduce ring-fenced funding for such services; and that appropriate management structures must be established to develop and monitor the new service.
Prof Cusack said a central part of an improved service for the public is a modern and easily understood explanation of the function and duties of the coroner and what the public should expect.
"A simple, helpful and immediate improvement in accessibility and communication would be the listing of the various coroners' offices in the State-services listing in telephone directories," he added.
Referring to the recommendation that a separate coroner agency be established to oversee the service, Prof Cusack said it would be difficult to have any confidence in the implementation of the reforms in the absence of such an agency.
He welcomed the measures aimed at formalising the review of coroners' decisions. A range of options - including internal review by the coroner's office concerned, judicial review and a review board accessed by application to the Attorney General - would be available to members of the public who wished to question a coroner's actions.
Prof Cusack called for a formalisation of the contractual agreement between pathology departments and the coroner service. He says the current arrangement, based on goodwill, cannot sustain a professional death investigation service in the future.
In 1999, 7,268 deaths were reported to coroners in the State, representing about 23 per cent of all deaths. There were 4,745 post-mortem examinations carried out by pathologists under the direction of coroners and 1,833 inquests were held in the 48 coroner districts.