Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 170: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if it is possible for a death certificate to issue in respect of a person in view of the circumstances (details supplied). [15500/08]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 171: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if the death of an Irish person (details supplied) can be registered here. [15501/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 170 and 171 together.

The legislative provisions governing the registration of deaths are contained in the Civil Registration Act 2004. Section 38 of the Act 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 a 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 Síochána or the Permanent Defence Force, or the spouse or specified members of the family of such a member, while the member was 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.

The legislative provisions governing the registration of deaths, applicable in England and Wales, are quite similar to those in operation here and it is likely that the death in question falls to be registered there, under the appropriate legislation. Any such registration, and any death certificates issued on foot of it, would be acceptable for all the usual purposes here.