Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 15:

In page 12, line 15, to delete “the appropriate registrar” and substitute “to an tArd-Chláraitheoir”.

Members will be aware that the Bill currently provides that the "appropriate registrar" shall be provided with a copy of the presumption of death order, or the variation order, if applicable, by the court which made the order and that the appropriate registrar shall register the death or remove the entry from the register, as appropriate, depending on the circumstances. The appropriate registrar is:

a registrar in the functional area of the authority in which— (a) the death was presumed to have occurred, or

(b) if a place of presumed death cannot be determined, the area in which the missing person was normally resident.

The proposed amendments are in the interests of the efficient management of the registration process. They allow an tArd-Chláraitheoir the flexibility to perform registrations centrally or to assign the task to a registrar, thus simplifying the registration process by comparison with the process in the Bill as passed by the Seanad. The proposed arrangements will also act to provide a single point of contact for the receipt of court orders. The text has regard to the wording used in section 65(3) of the Civil Registration Act 2004, to which I made reference. Again, it is in the interests of the efficient and careful management of the process and to allow for clarity. I ask that the amendments be given favourable consideration by members of the committee.