The Cork City Coroner says there is 'no doubt' that the longer a family must wait for their loved one's post-mortem report, the more difficult it is.
City Coroner, Philip Comyn was reacting to a letter which was sent to all coroners in the country this week explaining that the turnaround time for toxicology results are to get even longer.
Only one laboratory in the country is accredited to carry out toxicology tests for post-mortems - the State Laboratory in Kildare.
They wrote to all coroners this week - warning that the turnaround time for toxicology results has increased to 160 days - because they "will not have sufficient resources in place".
Most post-mortems require a toxicology screen.
Coroners say that this could slow-down the issuing of coroner's reports by several months.
Autopsies country-wide are already being delayed due to staffing shortages.
