Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will amend the Civil Registration Act 2004 to permit the registration or recording of deaths here as it is considered by many persons that such a procedure would help to bring consolation to the bereaved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8690/10]

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the concerns that have been expressed regarding the general inability to register or record the death in the Irish registry of Irish people who have died abroad; and her views on amending and extending section 39 of the Civil Registration Act 2004 to permit the registration of death here when families produce the necessary proof of death abroad. [6306/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 115 and 123 together.

The provisions and procedures governing the registration of deaths in Ireland are contained in Part 5 of the Civil Registration Act 2004 and these are as follows; Where a death occurs in the State it is the duty of a qualified informant (normally a relative of the deceased) to attend at a registrar's office and register the death on foot of a certificate of cause of death supplied by a registered medical practitioner. Where a death is referred to a coroner, the death is registered by a registrar on foot of a coroner's certificate.

In general, only deaths which occur within the State are registerable. Exceptions apply under the provisions of section 39 of the Act, concerning;

deaths of members of the Garda Síochána or the Permanent Defence Force or of the spouse or specified members of the family of such a member outside the State while the member is serving outside the State as such member,

deaths of persons on board an Irish aircraft or an Irish ship,

deaths of Irish citizens on board a foreign ship or a foreign aircraft travelling to or from a port, or an airport, as the case may be, in the State.

Where the death of an Irish citizen domiciled in the State occurs abroad, the death may be registered here if there was not at the time of the death a system of registration of deaths in the place where the death occurred, or such a system that applied to such a death, or it is not possible to obtain copies of or extracts from civil records of the death ie. a death certificate. Although the number of such cases is extremely small it is considered reasonable to make provision for them.

Usually, when an Irish citizen dies abroad, the death is registered by the civil authorities of the place where the death occurred, and a certified copy of the death registration is obtainable. This certificate, translated, if necessary, is normally sufficient for all legal and administrative purposes here and there is therefore no necessity for the death to be registered in the State.

This matter, however, will be reviewed in the context of future amendments to the Civil Registration Act 2004 with particular reference to making provision for the registration here of all deaths of persons domiciled here who died abroad.