Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment Nos. 33, 34 and 36 form a group that seeks to replace the definition of "next of kin" with a new definition of "close relative".

The three amendments together replace the current next of kin mechanism with a new close relative mechanism for requesting information about deceased relevant relatives. Amendment Nos. 33 and 34 replace references to "next of kin" with references to "close relative" while amendment No. 36 creates the new definition of "close relative". The effect of these amendments in Part 4 is that the qualifying relative who could request information about a deceased relevant relative would no longer just be the individual who is the next of kin of that deceased relative but rather any relative from the list of close relatives we define, namely, a mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, nephew or niece of the deceased person. The purpose of these amendments is to avoid issues whereby the rights of relatives to request information about deceased relevant relatives becomes effectively trapped with no individual. If the individual who is the next of kin, for example the brother, does not wish to seek information about the deceased relative the Bill in its current form precludes other relatives from seeking information.So if the brother is the next of kin and does not want to seek information, then a sister would be blocked from doing so under the current draft of the Bill. We want to avoid a situation where the right to information is seated with one individual and thus trapped with that person, which creates a situation where the next of kin blocks other family members from seeking information.

Under our new proposed mechanism, a qualifying relative is any close relative of the deceased person, and he or she would not need to wait for the next-of-kin status to pass to him or her before seeking information. We believe that this is right and proportionate and that it would vindicate the rights of close relatives to information about deceased relevant relatives.

Amendment No. 35 attempts a similar approach to that taken in amendments Nos. 33, 34 and 36. It leaves the next-of-kin mechanism intact whereby only next of kin can request information about a deceased relevant relative. Only the next of kin is defined as the qualifying relative. The amendment expands the definition of "next of kin" to include multiple family members at once, namely, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces. It would ensure that any of these family members would qualify as a relative and have the right to seek information about the deceased relevant relative. The purpose of this amendment is to avoid issues where the rights of relatives to request information about a deceased relevant relative effectively becomes trapped with one individual. If the individual who is the next of kin, for example, a brother, does not wish to seek information about the deceased relative, then the Bill, in its current form, precludes other relatives from doing so. If the brother is the next of kin and he does not want to seek information, then a sister would also be blocked from doing so. Under our new proposed mechanism, via amendment No. 35, the next of kin would become any close relative of the deceased person so one family could not block others from accessing information. We believe that this is right and proportionate.

We anticipate that there may be legal issues with designating multiple family members as the next of kin at the same time, which is why we have proposed an alternative mechanism. Amendments Nos. 33, 34 and 36 would create a new definition of "close relative" whereby all close relatives would become qualifying relatives, thus avoiding legal problems. We are altering the definition of "next of kin".