The Supreme Court has overturned an order requiring the State to fund legal representation for a mother at the inquest into the death of her 19-year-old son after he became unconscious in Garda custody.
Paul Magee died on 26 December 2002 after being arrested for public order offences at a friend's home. The judgment records that he was displaying signs suggestive of paranoid delusions before being taken to Kilmainham Garda Station, where he was handcuffed and placed in a cell.
He was found unconscious shortly afterwards and taken by ambulance to St James's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead after attempts at resuscitation. A post-mortem carried out by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy found evidence of recent cocaine use and concluded that the death was consistent with cocaine-related collapse.
His mother, Teresa Magee, raised concerns about his treatment in custody and the speed with which medical assistance was sought. Those matters remained allegations and concerns; the Supreme Court judgment did not determine responsibility for his death.
An inquest was due to begin in February 2004. Magee, who could not afford appropriate representation, sought publicly funded legal assistance. The High Court held that constitutional fair procedures required the State to provide it.
Mr Justice Finnegan disagreed. He said the constitutional right to State-funded legal aid established in serious criminal cases did not automatically follow whenever a person had a right to attend and be represented in another type of proceeding.
An inquest, he said, is inquisitorial: it investigates the facts surrounding a death but does not determine criminal guilt or civil liability. There are no prosecution and defence parties as in a criminal trial.
The Supreme Court therefore allowed the State's appeal, set aside the High Court order and dismissed Magee's claim for State-funded representation at the inquest.