Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 336: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a death certificate will issue in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6198/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The administration of the Civil Registration Service is statutorily a matter for the Registrar General. I have had enquiries made with the Registrar General and he has informed me that the position is as follows:

When a person dies, it is the duty of a relative of the deceased to act as qualified informant. This means that the relative must give to a registrar of births, deaths and marriages the information necessary to register the death, including a medical certificate of the cause of death, which is obtainable from the medical practitioner who attended the deceased, and sign the register of deaths.

In certain circumstances, a death is referred to the Coroner. There is a legal responsibility on doctors, registrars, undertakers, Gardaí, hospitals and nursing homes to inform the Coroner where a death occurs suddenly or unexpectedly, or from a cause unknown, unclear or unnatural, or where the deceased was not seen or treated by a registered medical practitioner within one month prior to death.

In such cases, the Coroner may request a post-mortem examination. If the post-mortem shows that a death was due to natural causes, the Coroner may issue a certificate to the Registrar, who can then proceed to register the death and issue a death certificate. If the post-mortem shows that a death was due to unnatural causes, the Coroner may cause an inquest to be held. In such cases, the registrar must await the outcome of the inquest and the issue by the Coroner of a coroner's certificate before the death can be registered.

In the case of the person concerned, the death has been referred to the relevant Coroner and it is a matter for the Coroner to decide what course of action to take. When the deliberations of the Coroner have been concluded a certificate is issued by him/her to the Registrar and the Registrar must then register that death. A death certificate in respect of the death may then issue.