Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to say a few words in support of the Bill. As we all know, for as long as we can remember, sadly, people have gone missing and at a certain stage can be deemed definitely dead or presumed dead. I refer especially to those girls in the midlands and indeed the young child in the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's county, Mary Boyle. We all remember them and the people left behind. Their loved ones suffer while they live with the suddenness of these people going missing and never returning home.

Then there are people who go missing for various reasons and disappear practically off the face of the earth, and the figures in this regard have been given. Their families are hurt and have been left behind, suffering anguish and pain daily. We cannot imagine what these people go through. When a partner in a marriage or a civil partnership goes missing, the person left behind needs at some stage to be allowed carry on his or her life and live it in some normal fashion. I hope the Bill will give these people some rights and provide some light in terms of the way they will be allowed to go forward. I refer to property rights, the determining of ownership of homes and land and dealing with mortgages, bank accounts and all the daily, mundane things families must go through, whether it be a man or a woman left behind. If they have children, these children must be looked after, given the same chances as every other child, get schooling and go to college or whatever. If the deceased had land, the children should have the chance at a later stage to operate it, put it in their names and work it like every other person of their age and in the same position.

It is very important we get this right. Examples have been given. If an Irish person, let it be a man or a woman, perhaps goes missing abroad for a year and may have left for very good reasons, we cannot have the scenario that that person would come back to deal with their ownership of and rights in respect of whatever property, whether a house, a farm or land, and perhaps find some other head in the bed, whether a man or a woman, instead of the person they left. We could not have that after a short period such as a year or so because people leave their homes and the places where they live and have been working for many reasons we may not understand. However, the Law Reform Commission's draft civil law (missing persons) Bill 2013, states that "the fact that for a period of 7 years or more the other party to the marriage has been continually absent from the applicant and the applicant has no reason to believe that the other party has been living within that time shall be evidence that the other party is dead until the contrary is proved".

What is important for us, as Members, is that we get the balance right in cases where a person does not seem to be returning. As Deputy Michael Collins said, we have to differentiate between cases. For instance, there are cases where fishermen are lost at sea and their bodies are never found. There is no question whatsoever of that person not being dead. In those cases, people need to be allowed to carry on with their lives and should not have to wait a long time to get a death certificate. They should be allowed deal with issues of property rights and benefits they may hope to receive from State. Such a situation has to be treated differently from a person who may disappear in another fashion. I refer to a case where a person goes missing for a number of years and there is no sign that he or she will be returning. There are no sightings of that person in the jurisdiction or, indeed, beyond it.

I am glad to support this Bill. However, we have to be careful to strike the right balance. We must ensure what is intended does not hurt people who may actually not be dead.

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