Coroners Service
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-22
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Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire

It is important to separate out the arrangements we are talking about. This arrangement is not for all post mortems; it is for coronial-directed post mortems in instances, as the Deputy correctly identifies, of sudden or unexpected death that require and are directed to have this type of post mortem carried out. That is very much an issue for the Department of justice. Clearly, pathologists are continuing to do the work they have always been doing. Where a family has experienced a sudden tragedy - a sudden bereavement of some kind - and the coroner has directed this form of post mortem, that is obviously the responsibility of the Department of justice. I will speak with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and ask him to increase his efforts to try to ensure there are more locum pathologists coming. However, University Hospital Waterford remains there to provide support in that ancillary way for this specific type of post mortem, which is, of course, a subset of all post mortems.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-22