Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work done by Senator Boyhan and former Senator Terry Leyden. I can understand the passion because I am a former solicitor and sat behind a desk with a wills safe located right beside me. A safe is one of the most treasured possessions in a solicitor's office, partly because it is an asset but predominantly because, as solicitors, one sits down with families who are preparing for their deaths and one listens to them state their whole family's circumstances. One has a relationship with them in any case from other legal matters but one sits there with them and gives them the best advice based on their family circumstances. One goes through the Succession Act with them, which is a very enjoyable read as legislation goes. One goes through all of their rights, and the rights of those whom they may leave behind. It is important for people to realise that not everything in a will can always be executed. It is really significant that the Legal Services Regulatory Authority received 271 complaints from the beneficiaries of wills in a two-year period. I do not for one second believe that has to do with the solicitors that these people had seen because there is an awful lot of confusion about wills. I still get calls from people looking for wills because one does not know, and even more so now when families are so dispersed around the country or people are abroad. Wills are very complicated. The very fact that only 30% of people in this country write a will shows the complexity and lack of understanding about the importance of writing a will.

Two things happen if one cannot find a will. One is that there may be an older will that can be found in another solicitor's office. Second, there may be an assumption that there is no will at all so the rules of intestacy kick in and often a piece of land, but other assets as well, are divided up, which can never really go back together again. Even if a will is found later it is incredibly difficult to undo all of that. It is for all of those reasons, and not withstanding the excellent work that I genuinely believe solicitors do in this area, the best thing is to move a wills safe and put it somewhere more central due to the complex nature of society and the way that it has changed.

I agree that the Bill has many flaws, which has been acknowledged by Senator Boyhan and acknowledged by the Senators who spoke before me. I also think that Fianna Fáil Members acknowledged that at the time as well. It is important to get this Bill to a certain point, which is what we do here. We tease out legislation here. Senator Boyhan mentioned pre-legislative scrutiny. It is important to note that we have all put it on the record that we are committed to this legislation but believe it needs to be teased out because one needs solicitors on board. Even if one gets a will from the General Register Office or wherever it is, a solicitor will do the work on it and, therefore, solicitors must be on board. In the same way that we expect teachers to be on board if we make changes to the education system we must also have legal professionals on board.

Wills are not just important because of land. Wills are important as one can stipulate the kind of care one wants to put in place for a dependant or dependants who have been left behind. We really need proper education from a young age so that people can start making their wills before they reach the stage of preparing for their death because it feels somewhat imminent. Education is something that we should look at.

I wish to mention a campaign group called My Legacy that seeks to reduce the VAT rate of 20% on charitable donations that are written into wills. It is important that we consider this matter. We may even increase the 30% of the population who have written their wills if we conducted a campaign and informed people that society can benefit in other ways from a will and that making a will benefits one's family and the wider society with bequests to charities.

I support the Bill but I agree with the sensible suggestion of nine months for all of the reasons that I have outlined.