New coroners website welcomed by Mayo Coroner

New coroners website welcomed by Mayo Coroner


Anton McNulty

THE launch of a new Coroners website which is aimed to provide more information to the general public on the role of Coroners has been welcomed by the Coroner for North Mayo.
Last week, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern launched the new website about coroners and the service they provide. The aim of the site is to provide information in a simple and quick way about the service Coroners provide to those affected by a sudden or unexplained death. 
The website outlines the role of the coroners office during inquests and this new information was welcomed by Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald, the Coroner for North Mayo who said there was a lack of awareness about the coroner’s role among not only the general public but also among professional groups. She said the new Coroners Act gives the coroners more powers and hopes the information on the website will give the public a greater understanding of their roles.
“I agree that there is a lack of awareness and understanding of the role of the coroner and anything that makes the general public more aware has to be welcomed. There is a lot of fear, anxiety and apprehension among people when it comes to inquests and some do not want to give evidence. We always try to be as understanding as possible and take the courtroom feeling away from the proceedings. Hopefully this website will be helpful to people and if this opens up the publics understanding of inquests a bit more, it has to be helpful,” she told The Mayo News.
Dr Fitzgerald added that some people use the inquests as a way of attributing blame at someone for the cause of a death and said attributing blame was not the role of the coroner. However she added that an inquest can have a role in preventing further deaths and in that way can be very helpful.
At the launch of the website, Minister Ahern explained that the website and the accompanying leaflet is not only of immediate value to those bereaved but to coroners and support services in assisting this very vulnerable group in our community at a difficult and sometimes tragic time.
“Anyone can at anytime be affected by a sudden or unexpected death. This website will help to give those people instant, practical information about why the coroner is involved, who helps the coroner, what stages are in the process and how this process may affect them. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Coroners Society of Ireland and its members for their continued work in this difficult area and their help in developing this website as well as all the other organisations that assisted in developing the site and leaflet,” he said.
The new website is available for viewing at www.coroners.ie.