Coroners (Amendment) Act 2019

Amendment of section 20 of Principal Act

14. Section 20 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of “any member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of inspector, or a designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission where there is a relevant Ombudsman Commission investigation concerning the death of the person in relation to whose death an inquest is to be held, may request the Minister to direct any other coroner to hold the inquest and the Minister may, if he or she so thinks proper, so direct another coroner” for “any member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of inspector may request the coroner for an adjoining district to hold the inquest”, and

(b) in subsection (2), by—

(i) the insertion of “, or the Minister if that coroner is a coroner for the coroner’s district of Dublin,” after “the local authority liable to pay the salary of the coroner who would ordinarily hold the inquest”, and

(ii) the substitution of “such sum to cover his or her travelling and other expenses as shall be agreed upon between him or her and the local authority, or the Minister, in the case of a coroner for the coroner’s district of Dublin” for “such sum to cover his travelling and other expenses as shall be agreed upon between him and the local authority or, in default of agreement, as shall be fixed by the Minister”.