Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

): Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an tSeanadóir as ucht an cheist seo a thógáil. Ar ndóigh, bhí na daoine céanna ag teagmháil liomsa faoin gceist seo. An fáth go bhfuil mise ag tógáil na ceiste ná go dtagann an cúram seo faoi mo Roinnse agus ní faoin Roinn Dlí agus Cirt, Comhionannais agus Athchóirithe Dlí. This matter is the responsibility of my Department and that is why it will come before the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs.

The provisions and procedures governing the registration of deaths in Ireland are contained in Part 5 of the Civil Registration Act 2004 and these are as follows. Where a death occurs in the State it is the duty of a qualified informant (normally a relative of the deceased) to attend at a registrar's office and register the death on foot of a certificate of cause of death supplied by a registered medical practitioner. Where a death is referred to a coroner, the death is registered by a registrar on foot of a coroner's certificate.

In general, only deaths which occur within the State are registerable. However, Section 39 of the Act, provides for the following exceptions: deaths of members of the Garda Síochána or the Permanent Defence Force or of the spouse or specified members of the family of such a member outside the State while the member is serving outside the State as such member; deaths of persons on board an Irish aircraft or an Irish ship; and deaths of Irish citizens on board a foreign ship or a foreign aircraft travelling to or from a port, or an airport, as the case may be, in the State.

Section 38 of the Act makes provision for the registration of a death of an Irish citizen domiciled in the State in certain specific circumstances. Where the death of an Irish citizen domiciled in the State occurs abroad, the death may be registered here if there was not at the time of the death a system of registration of deaths in the place where the death occurred, or such a system that applied to such a death, or it is not possible to obtain copies of or extracts from civil records of the death, i.e. a death certificate. In other words, if the death could not be registered or if a death certificate could not be obtained, the death can be registered here. Although the number of such cases is extremely small it is considered reasonable to make provision for them.

The reasoning behind these provisions is simply to ensure that where deaths cannot be registered abroad, they can be registered here and that in all cases the relatives of the deceased have available to them a certificate of the death for personal, legal and administrative purposes.

Usually, when an Irish citizen dies abroad, the death is registered by the civil authorities of the place where the death occurred and a certified copy of the death registration is obtainable. This certificate, translated, if necessary, is normally sufficient for all legal and administrative purposes here and for these reasons alone there is no necessity for the death to be registered in the State.

Any broadening of the current provisions will require careful consideration. It will be appreciated that the number of people who live and die in other countries and who have or are entitled to have Irish citizenship is very large. Some second or third generation descendants have rights of citizenship and, of course, anyone born in the North of Ireland is entitled to Irish citizenship. That is why a citizenship only qualification would create grave difficulties. It would have implications both for the registration process itself and for the vital statistics relating to deaths which are derived from registered events.

The number of Irish citizens who are domiciled in Ireland and who die abroad is relatively small in the context of total deaths occurring here in any given year. I fully accept that this was the situation in the case of the two young people mentioned by Senator Healy Eames. The figures available in respect of some recent years are as follows: in 2007, 150 Irish citizens died abroad; in 2008 the figure was 205; in 2009 it was 243; and so far in 2010 it is 48. My understanding is that the vast majority of these people were travelling abroad for leisure or business purposes.

I am conscious of course that each figure represents a tragedy and because the deaths take place away from home it is an additional heartache for the family. In this regard it is, I believe, appropriate for me to remind people going abroad that the same care should be taken in relation to personal safety as when at home.

As I have said already, a death certificate is readily available in the overwhelming majority of these cases. However, I do appreciate that many families of the deceased feel strongly that by registration of the death, the person's death is given recognition in his or her own country and also that this fact would assist during a period of considerable grief.

The Department will therefore have this matter reviewed in the context of future amendments to the Civil Registration Act 2004. I will examine what challenges would arise if we decided to amend the Act. The real challenge in this respect is that citizenship alone would create the possibility that people would seek a death certificate for family members who never lived in this country. The case has been raised by people who are domiciled here and are citizens but who are living away from home for a short period. I will examine that issue but it is in that context that I can do so.