Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Ba mhaith liom tréaslú leis an Seanadóir Colm de Búrca, mar atá déanta ag mo chomhghleacaithe, as ucht an reachtaíocht seo a thabhairt chun cinn. Is mian liom a rá freisin go mbeidh Sinn Féin ag tacú leis an mBille. I might add a story from my own family to the debate. An aunt of mine disappeared. She was my mother's oldest sister who went to London when she was only 18 or 19. We lost contact with her. My mother's family had absolutely no contact with her and we did not know what had happened. This continued for 30 years and a brother of mine made numerous attempts through the authorities, the Salvation Army and the Terry Wogan show in Great Britain to find my aunt. He had no luck whatsoever so in one sense, I can relate to that sense of not knowing what had happened.

My mother always wondered what had happened to my aunt. Thankfully, we had a happy ending to the story. A cousin of mine happened to be at a bus stop in London one morning and often met this man who owned a carpet shop in London. She struck up a conversation with him one morning. He was Cypriot and asked my cousin where she was from and about her family. She explained that her family was from Connemara and he said "That's interesting. I'm married to a woman from Connemara." It turned out to be my aunt. It was a complete fluke of a meeting but it is a true story. My aunt did come back and, thankfully, she had been alive. There was no particular reason for losing contact. She just built her own life, got married and had two children who are older than me. She passed away recently at a ripe old age. She had been repatriated with the family.

In a sense, it gives credence to the opposite side of the argument that the disappeared, thankfully, do reappear in some cases and it can be out of the blue and through amazing experiences. We also obviously realise that there are cases where there is no happy ending to the story. Senator Colm Burke's Bill addresses that hiatus in the law and we support it. I am glad the Government will accept the Bill on Second Stage and possibly bring forward amendments on Committee Stage. The crux of the Civil Law (Missing Persons) Bill 2013 is to help families of missing persons to deal with the management of their estates. As the law stands, there is no legal procedure in place to allow for the management of the estate in cases where it is clear from all evidence that the person has died.

This change makes practical sense. We should be striving to make things easier for families of missing persons who have already come through so much trauma. The two categories of missing persons are well defined within the Bill and I welcome this as a means of making it easier to identify to whom this Bill relates. Earlier this year, the Law Reform Commission stated the need to have a statutory framework to deal with some immediate practical problems for family members. The commission pointed out that there is a particular need to allow access to a missing person's bank account, particularly where the account is in the person's sole name, so that bills can be paid. The commission also recommended that legislation should be enacted to allow the family left behind to apply to the Circuit Court after a person has been missing for 90 days to allow interim management of the missing person's property. This would allow the family to pay bills or renew insurance on a car or motor bike. This process could be in place for up to two years with a possible extension of two or more years. The commission's report also recommended the reform of the law on presumed death, in particular to ensure that families can, as far as possible, deal in the least expensive way with the emotional trauma of their loved ones going missing. I welcome the fact that the Bill is giving life to many of the recommendations in the Law Reform Commission's report on civil law regarding missing persons. It is very important that this Bill has been brought forward.

I will touch on the issue of the disappeared. There is quite a bit of innuendo around this issue when it is raised in the political arena and certainly in the media. On behalf of Sinn Féin, I state categorically that it is a massive issue. There is great trauma and hurt relating to the disappeared. I also wish to categorically state that any member of my party who had any information on the disappeared has given it to the relevant authorities and we have co-operated fully and will continue to do so if called upon. This has been backed up on numerous occasions by the independent commission. Everything we can do has been done. I know our leader has met the families of all of the disappeared, which has not been brought across in some of the media coverage.

Ba mhaith liom tréaslú arís leis an Seanadóir a chuir an Bille seo os ár gcomhair, agus freisin tacaíocht Shinn Féin don reachtaíocht a léiriú uair amháin eile.