Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for attending the House. It was not my intention to have any difference with the Minister. I am sorry if I did. It was unintentional in the heat of the battle and it certainly was not personal. I thank all those who voted for the Bill and those who voted against it. There is sufficient room in this Bill and I hope that the Dáil will pass it. Those amendments I mentioned are in the original Bill and they can be amended. Anything in this can be amended. If the Bill must provide for statutory powers rather than a voluntary regime, so be it.

I believe that the Minister and her Department can look at this. There has been resistance to this Bill from certain people in her Department for a very long time. I will say no more. There has been resistance from the Law Society of Ireland for reasons of its own. It is a protective organisation that protects its members and does not want them to take on other responsibilities. So many people have been deprived of their rights. Members have no idea. One of the great injustices in this country is the fact that we have no record or way of knowing whether a will was ever made. I will not go into any more detail. I would prefer to have much more information to hand. More than 30,000 people die every year. Only about 10,000 make wills. Perhaps people will be encouraged to make wills by this Bill. I ask the Minister personally if she will look at this in the cold light of day. I know she is up to her neck with Brexit and everything else at the moment. I ask her to look at it sometime. I would love to meet with her to discuss it. I would love her to adopt it and to take this on. If she examines the details she might decide that it is worthwhile to bring this Bill forward in government.