Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

Members referred to the necessity of people taking responsibility and making a will. If this debate serves only to encourage people in this regard it will have done some good. We have all heard of cases where enormous difficulties have ensued when a person died without making a will. We will look at the idea of a campaign to encourage people in this regard. Members of the legal profession are generally helpful to people who propose to make a will. The Government will examine how this may be developed.

Senator Leyden has given a thorough exposition of the aims and provisions of the Bill and I do not propose to go through them in detail. The Bill, which touches on a most important and sensitive aspect of peoples' lives, is welcome. There is a strong case to be made for a system whereby the interests of citizens can be further protected in terms of making provision for family after one's passing.

The Bill proposes that the General Register Office, GRO, will have responsibility for the registration of wills. Civil registration was introduced in 1845 for the registration of non-Catholic marriages and expanded in 1864 to births, deaths and Catholic marriages. Thus, a comprehensive registration system has been in place since 1864. The data form a basic, continuous source of information about the population by providing a record of vital events relating to people and satisfying the need for evidence that has a bearing on rights, entitlements, liabilities, status and nationality.

Civil registration is relevant to each of us at important stages in our lives, beginning with the registration of our births and ending when our deaths are registered. Between those events, civil registration affects us directly, as in the case of marriage, and indirectly, when certificates are required for many of the services available in society, such as enrolling a child in school, obtaining a passport, taking up employment and claiming a social welfare payment. While there has been little change to the basic registration procedures since 1864, there have been many changes in society, including major developments in technology and increased expectations on the part of citizens as to how public services should be delivered.

Recognising the importance of civil registration and acknowledging the changing needs of society, the Government approved a programme of work to modernise the civil registration service. The civil registration modernisation programme is a joint initiative between my Department, which oversees the administration of the registration service, and the Department of Social and Family Affairs which processed the new legislation. This is a major undertaking involving the following: the introduction of modern technology providing on-line registration; electronic certificate production and the capture of digitised signatures; redesign of business processes and procedures; capture and storage in electronic format of all paper-based records from 1845; and reform of legislation.

There will be substantial benefits, both tangible and intangible, arising from the modernisation programme. These include the following: improved service to customers, including extended opening times; greater efficiency in the use of resources and a reduction in red tape; nationwide standards for registering life events; the registration of divorces and civil annulments on a central register; the electronic capture and transmission of all vital statistics on life events to the Central Statistics Office, CSO; the sharing of data with designated Departments and Government agencies; and reducing the demand for paper certificates for the purposes of Government services.

Until now, the registration and certificate production processes were manual, time consuming and location dependent. The modernisation programme marks a fundamental change in the way the civil registration service operates and is delivering significant improvements in operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. The new computer system is fully rolled out across the country, with electronic registration and certificate production available in all registration offices. It has been recognised nationally and internationally as an example of excellence in e-government and service provision.

The modernisation programme aims to deliver a high-quality, proactive service to customers. Since September 2003, all new birth registration data is transferred electronically to the Department of Social and Family Affairs from the civil registration computer system. This facilitates the following: the allocation of a personal public service number to a child at registration; the establishment of a child's public service identity and the creation of family links on the national central database for all citizens — the client records system which is administrated by the Department of Social and Family Affairs; and the initiation of a child benefit claim for first-born children and the automatic payment for second and subsequent children in a family. Thus, payment of child benefit in respect of a baby born and registered by the civil registration system on Monday is made immediately or, alternatively, the mother is contacted by Thursday without any manual intervention. This is a prime example of Departments working together to provide more convenient access to services for citizens through e-government.

The introduction of the new civil registration system is a flagship initiative in providing life-centred services to customers. The visible improvement from the customer perspective is that a single interaction with a public service agency, such as the registration of a birth, not only achieves its original purpose but also triggers a series of related services by another agency, in this case, the Department of Social and Family Affairs. Customers availing of the e-enabled service no longer have to source and complete a multi­paged paper application form and supply a paper birth certificate. They simply register the baby's birth to set the process in motion.

In many cases, the birth notification is passed electronically from the hospital to the registration computer system, and this facility will be implemented for all maternity hospitals in the future. In this case, the birth details are captured just once, at the earliest point in the process, with seamless electronic data transmission from hospital to registration to child benefit and back again to registration with the PPS number. In conjunction with the GRO, the Reach agency electronically publishes deaths data and makes it available to all Government agencies. This is of particular importance for the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Health Service Executive in terms of the efficient management of their services. Vital statistics are transmitted electronically to the CSO. This greatly reduces the amount of manual intervention involved in such exercises, improves the quality of data and enhances the ability of the CSO to manage the data.

The capture of historical data in electronic format has been a central element of the modernisation programme. This has been a mammoth task, involving the digitisation of more than 27 million records and registration images. The technology used in the process is first rate. I commend all staff on their efforts over the years in what has been a difficult and painstaking task.

With all these developments now in place, it will soon be possible to begin commencing parts of the Civil Registration Act 2004, which was passed by both Houses and signed into law in February 2004. I will briefly remind the House of the purpose of this Act. The main objectives of the Act are as follows: to rationalise and modernise the procedures for registering births, stillbirths and deaths; give An tArd-Chláraitheoir responsibility for the overall policy for the civil registration service, including maintaining standards of service; assign responsibility for the management of the civil registration service at local level to the Health Service Executive; streamline the procedures for the registration of adoptions; establish new registers of divorce and civil nullity; reform the procedures governing the registration of marriages; and facilitate the linking of life events.

Parts 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 of the 2004 Act relate to the administration of the civil registration service and to the registration of births, stillbirths and deaths. Preparatory work is at an advanced stage and it is hoped to commence these provisions reasonably shortly.

The new procedures for marriage are set out in Part 6 of the Act and include universal procedures for notification, solemnisation and registration of marriages, as well as a choice of venue for civil marriages. Before these provisions can be commenced, a substantial body of work needs to be completed, including the following: drafting and publication of regulations, guidelines and detailed procedures; establishment of a register of solemnisers in consultation with religious bodies; establishment of a register of approved venues for civil marriages; and the further development of the computer system to facilitate the administration of the new marriage provisions introduced by the Act. Implementation of the other provisions, relating to registration of adoptions, divorces and civil nullity, will follow commencement of the marriage provisions.

A significant investment will be made in bringing genealogical research facilities up to modern standards. Discussions are under way with the OPW with a view to procuring new premises and facilities for research. The research facility will remain in Dublin and will be supported by a dedicated staff of eight. It is also intended to introduce electronic research in the new location and those with an interest in tracing their roots will be able to search through records much faster and will be able to view the original register entries which have been digitally scanned onto the system. It is hoped eventually to introduce Internet based research which will be available to a worldwide audience.

I hope I have given an indication of the progress that has been made to date in the civil registration modernisation programme. I commend Senator Leyden on his initiative. The Bill attempts to reduce the risk of the existence of a will remaining unknown after the death of the person who made it. While we cannot give a guarantee as to the success of this measure or the numbers that will be involved, given that registration will be voluntary, it will reduce the risk of the existence of wills remaining unknown.

It might be a little early to discuss amendments but I examined the Bill and the explanatory memorandum. I assumed we had gender proofed our legislation but the introduction of the explanatory memorandum states: "This Bill will enable a testator or his solicitor to register the name and address of the custodian...". Perhaps the word "testatrix" should be added to include the other gender. It is unfortunate that when a Bill is published, the first thing people try to do is find fault with it. That is the reason for amendments. I presume the Senator will be open to accepting amendments.