Coroners Act , 1962

PART I Preliminary And General

1. Short title and commencement.

1.—(1)This Act may be cited as the Coroners Act, 1962.

(2)This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister shall by order appoint for that purpose.

2. Definitions.

2.—In this Act—

F1["Act of 2004" means theCivil Registration Act 2004;

F6["Act of 2024" means the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024;]

"body", in relation to a deceased person, means the body or a part of the body of the person and includes the cremated remains of the person;

"child in care" means a child who was in the care of the Child and Family Agency under section 4 or Part III, IV or IVA of theChild Care Act 1991;]

“coroner”, F2[except in sections 6, 6A, 7, 8, 11, 11A and 16], includes a person appointed under subsection (2) of section 5 of the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926, as applied by section 8 of this Act, to fill the office of coroner temporarily;

F6["designated officer of the Police Ombudsman" means a designated officer within the meaning of the Act of 2024;]

“deputy coroner” has the meaning given to it by section 13 of this Act;

F1[F5[…]

"direct maternal death" means the death of a woman resulting from obstetric complications of the pregnant state whether arising during pregnancy, labour or puerperium and whether from obstetric interventions, omissions, or incorrect treatment or from a chain of events resulting from any of them;

"disposal", in relation to the body of a deceased person, means lawful disposal, either on land or at sea, by burial, cremation, scattering of the ashes of the remains of the body or other appropriate means;

"document" means—

(a) a book, record or other written or printed material,

(b) a photograph,

(c) any information stored, maintained or preserved by means of any mechanical or electronic device, whether or not stored, maintained or preserved in legible form, and

(d) any audio or video recording;

"enactment" means a statute or an instrument made under a power conferred by statute;

"end of pregnancy" means the end of pregnancy by giving birth, by miscarriage or by intervention or in any other circumstances;

"family member", in relation to a deceased person, means—

(a) a parent, grandparent, child, brother, sister, nephew, niece, uncle or aunt, whether of the whole blood, of the half blood or by affinity, of the person,

(b) a spouse, a civil partner within the meaning of theCivil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010or a cohabiting partner of the person,

(c) any other person who is ordinarily a member of the person’s household, or

(d) any child who has been placed in foster care with the person or any person referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c),

and includes a reference to any such member of the person’s family who is adopted;

"findings", in relation to an inquest, shall be construed in accordance with section 18A(1);

"indirect maternal death" means the death of a woman resulting from a pre-existing disease, or a disease that developed during pregnancy, and which was not the result of direct obstetric causes, but which was aggravated by the physiological effects of pregnancy;

"infant death" means the death of a live born child occurring immediately after birth or within 365 days of birth;

"late maternal death" means the death of a woman occurring more than 42 days and less than 365 days after the end of pregnancy from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, includes a direct maternal death or an indirect maternal death occurring during that period;]

“local authority” means the council of a county or the corporation of a county borough;

F1["maternal death" means the death of a woman while pregnant, or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, includes a direct maternal death or an indirect maternal death occurring during that period;]

“the Minister” means the Minister for Justice;

F1[F5[…]

"post-mortem examination" includes an examination of marks or injuries on a body, a full three cavity examination, and any ancillary examination by way of analysis, test or otherwise of the body or of material (whether of tissue, organs, biological fluids or other parts or contents of the body or of any other substance or thing relevant to such examination) carried out by an appropriately qualified registered medical practitioner or under his or her direction;

"pregnancy" includes an ectopic pregnancy;]

“prescribed”, save where the context otherwise requires, means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

F1["prison" has the meaning it has insection 2of thePrisons Act 2007;]

F2["registered medical practitioner" means a person who is a registered medical practitioner within the meaning ofsection 2of theMedical Practitioners Act 2007;]

F1[F5[…]

F6["relevant Police Ombudsman investigation" means an investigation of a complaint or matter by the Police Ombudsman under Part 6 of the Act of 2024 concerning the death of the person in relation to whose death a coroner is performing functions under this Act;]

"reportable death" shall be construed in accordance with section 16A;

F6["senior designated officer of the Police Ombudsman" means a senior designated officer within the meaning of the Act of 2024;]

"service custody" means the holding under arrest or in confinement of a person by the Defence Forces under the Defence Acts 1954 to 2015 and any Act that is to be construed as one with those Acts, including confinement in a military prison, or a detention barrack, within the meaning of those Acts;

"State custody or detention" means being—

(a) in the custody of the Garda Síochána,

(b) in custody in a prison,

(c) in service custody,

(d) involuntarily detained under Part 2 of theMental Health Act 2001in an approved centre within the meaning of section 2 of that Act,

(e) detained in a designated centre within the meaning ofsection 3of theCriminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006or being a person to whom section 20 of that Act refers, or

(f) remanded to a remand centre within the meaning ofsection 3of theChildren Act 2001or being detained in a children detention school within the meaning of that section;

"statutory body" means a body established by or under statute;

"stillborn child" means a child of not less than 24 weeks’gestation, or of birth weight of not less than 500 grammes, who is delivered without signs of life.]

2A. F7[Application of Act to stillbirths

2A.—(1) This Act, other than sections 17, 18, 33A and 40, shall, where the context so requires, apply to a stillborn child in the same manner as it applies to a deceased person subject to the modification that the provisions in subsections (2) to (5) shall apply to a stillborn child instead of sections 17, 18 and 33A, and any other necessary modifications.

(2) Where a coroner is informed that the body of a stillborn child is lying within his or her district and that a medical certificate stating that the cause of death due to a natural cause or causes is not procurable, he or she may inquire into the circumstances of the death of the stillborn child and direct that a post-mortem examination of the body of the stillborn child be made under this Act and, if he or she is unable to ascertain the cause of death, may, if he or she so thinks proper, hold an inquest in relation to the death.

(3) A coroner may, for the purposes of performing his or her functions under subsection (2), have regard to any of the following circumstances in so far as they applied, or may have applied, to the mother of the stillborn child concerned and the likelihood that they may have caused or contributed to the death of the stillborn child:

(a) violence affecting the mother of the stillborn child at the time of the death, or immediately before the death, of the stillborn child;

(b) the mother of the stillborn child was in State custody or detention at the time of the death, or immediately before the death, of the stillborn child;

(c) the mother of the stillborn child was involved in an accident at work or was affected by an industrial or occupational injury or disease or industrial poisoning at the time of the death, or immediately before the death, of the stillborn child;

(d) the death of the mother occurred unexpectedly and from unknown causes or in an unexplained manner;

(e) the death of the mother was a maternal death or a late maternal death;

(f) the death of the mother occurred in circumstances which, under provisions in that behalf in any other enactment, require that an inquest in relation to her death should be held.

(4) When deciding under subsection (2) whether to hold an inquest in relation to the death of a stillborn child, a coroner shall—

(a) have regard to the matters referred to in subsection (5), and

(b) if it is practicable to do so, consult with a family member of the stillborn child.

(5) The matters to which a coroner shall have regard for the purposes of subsection (4) include the following:

(a) whether the death of the stillborn child concerned has been reported to the coroner in accordance with section 16A;

(b) whether, upon inquiry by the coroner into the death, sufficient information in respect of the death of the stillborn child concerned has been provided to the coroner;

(c) whether a post-mortem examination of the body of the stillborn child concerned has been made under this Act and the report of that examination;

(d) the views (if any) of a family member of the stillborn child concerned furnished to the coroner in writing as to whether the death was a natural one.]

3. Regulations.

3.—(1)The Minister may make regulations in relation to any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.

(2)Every regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to anything previously done thereunder.

4. Expenses.

4.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

5. Repeals.

5.—The enactments specified in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent mentioned in the third column of the Schedule.

PART II Coroners and Coroners' Districts

6. Coroners' districts.

6.—(1)The coroners districts of the State shall, subject to subsection (2) of this section, the provisions of any order under subsection (3) of this section and section 7 of this Act be the same as the coroners' districts immediately before the commencement of this Act.

(2)The boroughs of Kilkenny, Clonmel, Drogheda and Sligo shall be included, respectively, with the areas which, heretofore, constituted the coroners' districts of County Kilkenny, County Tipperary South Riding, County Louth and North County Sligo to form new coroners' districts.

(3)The boundary between two adjoining coroners' districts the coroners for which were appointed by the same local authority may be altered by the Minister by order made after consultation with the Minister for Local Government and with the consent of the coroners for such districts.

(4)Where a vacancy occurs in a coroner's district portion of which is within a county borough, that portion shall thereupon cease to be part of that district and shall be amalgamated with the district comprising the remainder of the county borough, the coroner of which shall become coroner for the district thereby created and comprising the whole of the county borough.

(5)F8[…]

6A. F9[Coroner’s district of Dublin.

6A.—(1) The coroners’districts of the county of Dublin and the city of Dublin existing immediately before the coming into operation of this section shall as and on the coming into operation of this section be amalgamated into one district and shall be known as the coroner’s district of Dublin.

(2) On the coming into operation of this section, section 6 shall cease to apply to the coroner’s district of Dublin.

(3) The persons who immediately before the coming into operation of this section held the offices of coroner and deputy coroner in the districts referred to in subsection (1) shall from that day hold such respective offices in the coroner’s district of Dublin.

F10[(4) The Minister shall make administrative and financial arrangements in respect of the coroner’s district of Dublin and that obligation shall be deemed to have come into operation on 1 January 2018 and sections 8 and 9 shall be deemed to have ceased to apply to that district with effect from that date.]

F11[(5) A person appointed under subsection (6A) to be a coroner for the coroner’s district of Dublin shall hold office on such terms and conditions (including terms and conditions relating to remuneration and superannuation) as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, determines.]

F12[(5A) The persons who immediately before the coming into operation ofsection 4(a) of the Coroners (Amendment) Act 2019 held the offices of coroner and deputy coroner in the coroner’s district of Dublin shall, following such coming into operation, continue to hold such respective offices.]

(6) Where a vacancy occurs in respect of the coroner’s district of Dublin, the Minister shall make arrangements to fill the vacancy.

F11[(6A) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, appoint one or more than one person to be a coroner for the coroner’s district of Dublin.]

F11[(6B) A person appointed under subsection (6A) to be a coroner for the coroner’s district of Dublin shall be a civil servant in the Civil Service of the State.]

F14[(6C) A person appointed under subsection (6A) to be a coroner for the coroner’s district of Dublin shall not, without obtaining the prior consent in writing of the Minister—

(a) hold any other office or occupy any other position in respect of which emoluments are payable, or

(b) carry on any other business, trade or profession.

(6D) Section 14A shall not apply to a coroner for the coroner’s district of Dublin appointed under subsection (6A).

(6E) On the coming into operation of section 2 of the Coroners (Amendment) Act 2024, sections 13 and 15 shall cease to apply to a coroner for the coroner’s district of Dublin appointed under subsection (6A).

(6F) A person who, immediately before the coming into operation of section 2 of the Coroners (Amendment) Act 2024, held the office of deputy coroner in the coroner’s district of Dublin shall, on such coming into operation, cease to hold that office and, for the avoidance of doubt, subsection (5A) and section 13(9) shall, to the extent that they apply to any such deputy coroner, cease to apply to that deputy coroner.]

(7)F15[…]

(8)F15[…]]

F16[(9)F15[…]]

7. Amalgamation of districts.

F17[7.—(1) Where a vacancy arises in the office of coroner in respect of a coroner’s district, and that district is within the area of a local authority in which there is more than one coroner’s district, the Minister, following consultation with the local authority concerned, may direct that a coroner holding office in respect of another coroner’s district within the area of that local authority shall also hold office as coroner in respect of the district in which the vacancy arose, and on the direction of the Minister coming into effect, the coroner’s districts shall stand amalgamated.

(2) The Minister shall not issue a direction under subsection (1) unless the coroner concerned consents to act as coroner in respect of the amalgamated district.]

8. Office of coroner.

8.—(1)There shall be a coroner for every coroner's district.

F18[(2) Subject to sections 6A and 7, the coroner for a coroner’s district shall be appointed by the local authority in whose area the district is situate.]

F19[(2A)F20[…]]

(3)F21[Subject to sections 6A and 7, the office of coroner shall be an office] to which the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926, applies and that Act shall apply accordingly but with the following modifications:

(a)“the Minister” in the said Act shall, in relation to the office of coroner, mean the Minister for Justice,

(b)subsection (1) of section 5, subsections (1) and (2) of section 7 and section 11 of that Act shall not apply to the office of coroner,

(c) F22[…]

(d) F22[…]

(e) F22[…]

(4)The modifications effected by subsection (3) of this section shall not apply in the case of the appointment of a coroner after the commencement of this Act where the qualifications for the appointment were prescribed before such commencement, and the appointment shall be made as if this Act had not been passed.

(5)The Local Appointments Commissioners shall, before recommending a person for appointment to the office of coroner, satisfy themselves that the person possesses the requisite knowledge and ability for the proper discharge of the duties of that office.

9. Salary of coroner.

9.—(1)Every coroner shall be paid by the local authority by whom he is appointed such salary as shall from time to time be fixed, with the approval of the Minister, by that local authority.

(2)The Minister shall not give any approval under this section save after consultation with the Minister for Local Government.

(3)The salary of a coroner shall be inclusive of any travelling, subsistence and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred by him in the course of his duties as coroner.

10. Review of salary.

10.—F23[…]

10A. F24[Tenure of office of coroner for coroner’s district of Dublin

10A.—(1) A coroner for the coroner’s district of Dublin appointed under subsection (6A) of section 6A shall, unless he or she sooner dies, resigns, retires in accordance with the terms and conditions of his or her appointment under that section or is removed from office, hold office for such period, not exceeding 5 years, from the date of his or her appointment as the Minister shall, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, determine.