I am coming at the issue from the point of view that I pushed through the change in legislation on missing persons, whereby a family can now apply to the court where all of the information suggests a particular person has died. When the debate was taking place in the Seanad, a family came to see me in Dublin about the case where a family member had disappeared two years previously. There is a provision in the coroners Act, under which the Minister for Justice and Equality can request a coroner to hold an inquest, even where a body has not been recovered. I wrote to the Minister and as a result of that letter, members of An Garda Síochána came to the family's house to take DNA samples to be sent to Wales and France. My point is that there should be reciprocity. If there was to be a case involving someone in Wales writing to the Irish authorities, there would be no centralised database.

I will follow up with a tied-in question. It concerns the case in Limerick involving the late Gussie Shanahan. What I am really disappointed about - I have written to the Commissioner about the matter - is that the family had to wait 17 years before being called into the Garda station in October 2018 to be advised that the remains that had been washed up in County Clare were those of the father's late son and his daughter's late brother. Some 11 months later the relevant documentation has not been sent from Limerick to the coroner in County Clare to enable them to hold an inquest and for a death certificate to be issued. The family are really concerned and contacted me about four weeks ago. It is disappointing that, having waited 17 years, they are still waiting 11 months later for a death certificate to be issued. It has been a really difficult time for them and everyone else involved. I wonder if that issue could be dealt with also. There should not be such a time delay when there is clear evidence that the person is deceased and the appropriate correspondence has been sent to the coroner for the particular area. I ask that this be taken on board for the particular family involved.