Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I support Senator McFadden's amendment. Recently, people who gave evidence at a committee rightly encountered problems with the media afterwards. It is bad enough that a family must bury a son or daughter. We are discussing someone who takes a year out - economic necessity might not allow for that now - to go to Australia or America, has a tragedy befall him or her and arrives home in a coffin. Unfortunately, a family living near me in west County Cork needed to undertake one such visit to Australia. On top of this was the technical administrative grief of trying to register a death in Ireland. Every effort should be made.

The Minister discussed patriotism, the 85% of Irish people and the ash cloud. This is another situation that uniquely pertains to the citizens of this Republic. We owe a duty to the unfortunate people who, after going through the horrific ordeal of burying a family member, must deal with this ridiculous situation. No Minister would add to a grieving family's burdens and the current situation does not exist just to do that. Nonetheless, having heard the evidence at first hand and given that families have suffered because of the system, there is an onus upon us. Senator McFadden's amendment is worthy of acceptance.