Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last week, we passed a Bill dealing with missing persons, the Civil Law (Presumption of Death) Bill 2016. It has been passed by both the Dáil and Seanad. A connected area which I raised earlier in the year relates to where a body or part of a body is found and we are not able to identify who the person is, or the part of the body is from. If a body is found in Kerry and the name of the person is not identified, then the information stays in Kerry. There is no central database to co-ordinate this area. There were two incidents in the last 18 months. One was the case of a person who disappeared in Dublin and then about three months later a body was found in Louth. There was no connection between the two incidents and it took ten years for the family of the person who had disappeared to find out that the body found in Louth was the body of the person who disappeared in Dublin. There was a case in Limerick where a young lad disappeared and no body was found. About nine months later, a body was found in Clare and there was no connection between the two, in that the body was not identified as the missing person from Limerick. It took 17 years for the family to find out that the body discovered in Clare was that of their son.

There is a need for a central database. I have raised this issue and understand that the Department of Justice and Equality is looking at it. I do not understand why it is taking so long to come to a decision on the matter. It is extremely important that we co-ordinate information between different areas of the country, especially to assist families of missing persons such that information is available and it is co-ordinated so that when a body is found, we can identify who the person is. I ask that the Leader bring it to the attention of the Minister and that, if necessary, we could have a debate on the matter in the next session.