Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would put it to Mr. Byrne that it is not. It has happened because the people were connected legally and there is a joint ownership. It was their relationship that gave them the ownership because they jointly owned the property. In the tragic case of Mr. Byrne's brother, for example, if the separation had been completed we would not be here talking about this at all because the legal interest that his ex-wife had at that time would have been gone. It was, however, her property up until the point they completed a separation. It was their connection that gives the ownership right, not the death. This is what we are trying to balance.