John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, I thank the Senator once again for his considered intervention. He has raised issues which are of genuine human concern and where legislative intervention can play some role, however small, in addressing the difficulties faced by those whose loved ones have disappeared.

While not strictly relevant to the need for legislative intervention, I would like to record the fact that the Department of Justice and Equality has provided funding, since 2008, through the Commission for the Support for the Victims of Crime, for Missing in Ireland Support Services, a non-profit organisation that provides support to families and friends of missing persons. The Department also provides accommodation for that organisation.

In so far as the legislative role of the Department is concerned, there are some areas of the law which fall under its remit where it will be necessary to look more closely at the Law Reform Commission’s recommendations. One of these areas concerns coronial law and the role which coroners should have in the provision of death certificates.

Another area relates to the effect of a declaration of presumed death on a subsisting marriage - notably, that on the reappearance of a person presumed dead, the marriage does not remain valid.

This will have to be examined carefully in respect of the constitutional implications. The declaration of presumed death may allow for the distribution of an estate under a will or under intestacy provisions. It is logical and appropriate that closely related provisions under the Family Law Acts and the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act allow a spouse, a civil partner or a cohabitant to apply to the court in respect of the estate of the deceased person.

I thank the Senator who will be aware of the extensive legislative programme undertaken by the Department of Justice and Equality. The Department has been working on, and has brought forward, a number of priority Bills, including the so-called troika measures, including the personal insolvency legislation, the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill and the Legal Services Regulation Bill. Ireland completed a very successful programme up to the end of June but this has inevitably meant this was not possible.