Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and his officials for the work they have done in bringing forward the amendments. I have gone through them in detail and am quite satisfied in an overall context. They have streamlined what was an initial draft. I have highlighted issues that could cause complications at a later stage. There are one or two issues to which I will refer as we go through the amendments. I do think it is important that we deal with this issue. The most recent matter to which this is of great relevance is the incident off the Mayo coast in which four people tragically died. The remains of two people have been recovered but the remains of the other two people have not. It is in those kinds of circumstances that there is a legal vacuum. If this Bill is passed it will deal with that issue.

In the time of the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, as a result of the debate here in the Seanad a family contacted me whose daughter had gone missing. All the evidence was that she had died although no body was recovered. The only avenue open to me was to ask the Minister to get the coroner to hold an inquest. In fairness, the Minister did follow up and, as a result, an inquest was held. All of the procedures that could be carried out were completed for that family. Although the number of families affected in this way in any one year is quite low, the legislation will also be important for those families. Similar provisions have been up and running in Scotland for over 40 years and are in place in other jurisdictions as well. We need to have these provisions in place to deal with very tragic circumstances where all the indications are that the person has died.