John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 93: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the situation in relation to Irish citizens who died while abroad on holidays; if her Department has an arrangement or made a request to airline companies to carry home remains; if deaths which occurred abroad can be registered here on the families' request; the way this should be arranged; if remains of deceased persons undergo a post mortem on return to Ireland or if this is done in the United Kingdom and other countries; and if same would mean death could be recorded and registered here. [19520/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Registration of deaths is statutorily a matter for an tÁrd Chláraitheoir (Registrar General). I have made enquiries of an tÁrd Chláraitheoir and the position is as set out below.

Section 38 of the Civil Registration Act 2004 makes provision for the registration in Ireland of the death of an Irish citizen domiciled in the State, which occurs outside the State in the following circumstances: (a) If there was not at the time of the death a system of registration or a system that applied to that particular death in the country in which the death took place; or (b) If it is not possible to obtain from the country in which the death took place a copy of or extract from civil records of the death.

Provision is also made in the Civil Registration Act 2004 for the registration of the death of a person aboard an Irish aircraft or Irish ship, or the death of an Irish citizen on board a foreign aircraft or foreign ship travelling to or from an Irish airport or port, as the case may be. The death of a member of the Garda Siochána or the Permanent Defence Force, or of the spouse or specified members of the family of such a member, while the member is serving outside the State as such a member, may be registered in Ireland.

Where a family considers that these circumstances apply in respect of the death of a family member, an application may be made to an tÁrd Chláraitheoir, Government Offices, Convent Road, Roscommon, who will decide, on the basis of evidence available to him, whether such a death may be registered in the State.

My Department has no function in relation to the repatriation of the remains of Irish citizens who die abroad, or in deciding whether a post mortem should be carried out. I understand that the Department of Foreign Affairs provides consular assistance to Irish citizens who travel abroad, including assistance in relation to deaths abroad of family members, and I would draw to the attention of the Deputy parliamentary question No 244 at column 265 of the Dáil Debates for 29 November 2005 in this regard.