Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will certainly not be opposing the Bill. We welcome it, but if anything should come from this debate, it is knowing when we will have a commencement date. Will the Minister give us a reasonable indication as to when there will be a commencement date for Parts 2, 3 and 9? This has been promised on various occasions in the past three or four years, meanwhile the people who are depending on those Parts being passed continue to exist in a legal limbo. Frankly, that is very unfair. Will the Minister, when she is closing this debate, indicate a realistic timeline for bringing these very necessary provisions which merely reflect social change in the country into operation? That is the least the people concerned are entitled to expect.

Irish society has changed enormously and the law has to reflect those changes, but law written in the Statute Book is no good unless it is in operation. I was reading the Bill this morning. It is extremely complex because it involves amending the parent legislation, the two Acts of 2014. The Bill consists of a series of amendments to sections that have been amended at least once, in some cases more than once, not only by one Act but by a health Act and the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015. It is difficult to read. I have always believed legislation should be reasonably comprehensible to the man on the street, non lawyers. This is a textbook example of how not to write legislation if we have that objective which is a worthwhile one. There was a plain English campaign in the United Kingdom a couple of years ago. We will have to revive it here. I realise the technical complexities, but will the Minister consolidate the legislation as quickly as possible and publish a comprehensive guide to give people some idea before they engage the services of a solicitor which in most cases they will have to do of what they are talking about?

I welcome the provisions for donor assisted births and the right to register both parents. It is welcome that the names of same-sex parents will both appear on the birth register under the heading of parent. I would like and everybody deserves to see this provision being brought into operation as quickly as possible.

The legislation also contains a provision to rebut the presumption of automatic paternity if a couple have been married. It is more of a Committee Stage point and I will engage with the Minister on it then as I am not quite sure it achieves the objective it sets out to achieve. I would like the Minister to indicate precisely how it achieves that objective, in case I am reading it wrong or we are wasting time.

The provisions in respect of death certificates are also dealt with. I welcome the idea of having to include the country of birth or citizenship. They are necessary addenda to a death certificate. However, I seriously question the Minister's claim that she is involving the family more in cases where coroners are involved. As I recall from reading the legislation this morning, all it seems to do is put an obligation on the coroner to contact the "qualified informant" as defined in section 37 of the 2004 Act to include a relative or anybody who knows anything about the death, including somebody who happened to be in the same building when the death took place or somebody who had charge of the body afterwards. As I understand the current position, if a coroner is making inquiries, he or she will contact all of these people. What substantial change is being brought about by the section?

We have come a reasonable distance, but we have a lot further to go. We look forward to future progressive changes in that regard. The least the LGBT organisations which have been in touch with me and which represent people who have been forced to live in a legal fog for several years in awaiting these necessary changes which they have been promised repeatedly can now expect is a definitive deadline from the Government for implementation of these very necessary changes.

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