There have been calls to have a dedicated coroner’s service located in Derry in order to reduce the wait being endured by families who have lost a loved one to a sudden death.
The call came at the monthly meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council during a discussion on how to improve intervention services locally in a bid to reduce the number of people dying as a result of suicide.
Speaking at the meeting, the independent councillor Paul Gallagher said families who suffered a sudden death currently had to wait up to six hours for a coroner to come from Lurgan, which he said ‘added to the trauma’ of their loss.
“Local undertakers can’t touch the body, and we’re talking here about a body that could be found in the back garden, in all types of weather,” he said.
“We need to address that.”
His concerns were echoed by the SDLP’s Angela Dobbins, who said that she had personally experienced a situation where a delay was caused by a Bank Holiday.
“We had to wait four days for the body to come back to Derry,” she told the meeting.
“We should be calling for the Coroner’s Service to be put back here to Derry, because all this is doing is prolonging the agony for families.”
The Mayor of Derry, Elisha McCallion, who chaired the meeting, said that the old Derry City Council had previously written to the Executive about the issue.
She added the council should now write to the Minister for Health expressing its disappointment at the continuing lack of a Coroner’s Service in Derry.