Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, to the House for what is a particularly interesting Commencement matter. It relates to a Private Members' Bill that I tabled in the House and about which we had an extensive debate. The legislation in question was the Registration of Wills Bill 2021 and the debate took place on 6 October 2021. Before I go into the central plank of what we were trying to achieve, I will say that the relevant Minister, Deputy Humphreys, came to the House and committed on the record - I have read the transcript - that she would actively engage with all parties and stakeholders to get some sort of resolution.

Efforts have been to made introduce this Bill, or various shades or types of it, on four occasions without any great success. Many commitments were given but nothing happened. What happened at that time was that the Government tabled an amendment to defer the Second Reading of the legislation for nine months later. That time limit has well and truly gone. In fact, a period of two years has passed between that debate in 2021 and today. We had a vote, which I am looking at now, and nothing has happened since. One could argue that it was open to me to re-enter the legislation. The Bill is now back on the Order Paper because that nine-month period has elapsed.

I will go into the essence of the Bill again. I want to work in the spirit of co-operation because the Minister identified a number of shortcomings. Everyone is familiar with the film The Fieldand the legitimate expectation and excitement of inheriting or holding what one's family has worked for. I am thinking in particular of rural agricultural communities and rural farms. I acknowledge the great work Teagasc has done through a number of webinars on succession for farms, particularly family farms. It was one of the best and most oversubscribed webinars Teagasc has ever run, which was interesting in itself.

This is an issue of importance because it is about inheritance. It is about passing on from one generation to another. As a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and, more importantly, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I am aware this is a recurring theme. Everywhere I go around the 31 local authorities, including to marts and agricultural fairs, I meet people who tell me of their concern around litigation in respect of inheritance.

What are we trying to do? We are trying to get a register. The Bill seeks to have a register of wills. Most countries have registers of wills. It struck me today that we have registers for births, deaths, marriages, cattle and dogs. We also have a television register and licence and are also soon to have a register for farm fertilisers. Despite all those registers, we do not have a register of where wills are held. They are clearly confidential documents. Much of the litigation and dispute is around succession and the right to ascertain a will or to find out that wills have been destroyed because they did not favour one person over another. The area is contentious and there is a need for a register.

I acknowledge the enormous work done by former Senator Leyden. He drove this issue for many years but is no longer here. I undertook to take on the issue, having spoken with him extensively. There is an issue here, particularly with regard to agricultural holdings and land. There are issues with regard to all wills. We need a central register of wills. Can we work together to put in place a register of wills similar to that in many other jurisdictions across Europe?