Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 8, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following subsection:

"(5) Information to be registered shall not include any information regarding the contents of the will, the assets or the testator or the identity of the beneficiaries.".

I accept that Senator Leyden intends that the register should not be used to provide information regarding the contents of a will, the assets of the testator or the identities of any beneficiaries. However, it might be worth spelling out this in the Bill. As much as anything, this could be done to reassure people who will use the system. It must be made clear that this is a voluntary system and that it is designed to allow people to find or locate a will. It will be better than the existing system but will not supersede it. Even though a person might use the new system, he or she might be obliged to engage in searches and contact solicitors to ensure another will, which went unregistered, was not made. It might not do any harm to include in the Bill the wording proposed in the amendment in order that people will be clear what is involved. I would like to hear the Minister of State's comments on that matter.