Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 536: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will use the Civil Partnership Bill 2009 as an opportunity to amend the Civil Registration Act 2004 to allow for the registration here of Irish citizens who have died abroad. [13064/10]

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 537: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will consider amending the Civil Registrations Act 2004 to allow for the registration of the deaths of Irish citizens abroad in view of the recent situation involving the death of an Irish person in Chicago, USA. [13309/10]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 606: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her plans to amend the Civil Registration Act 2004; if she will amend this act to allow for the registration of the deaths of Irish citizens who die abroad; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13050/10]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 607: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reasons the death of an Irish citizen and Irish resident while that person is abroad is not registered here; and the steps she will take to rectify this position in view of the additional grief that this causes to families and the practical difficulties that are cause in terms of arranging the deceased person's affairs without an Irish death certificate. [13079/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 536, 537, 606 and 607 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 member, outside the State while the member is serving outside the State as such member, - Deaths of persons on board an Irish aircraft or 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.

The reasoning behind these provisions is simply to ensure that where deaths cannot be registered abroad, they can be registered here and that in all cases the relatives of the deceased have available to them a certificate of the death for personal, legal and administrative purposes.

Any broadening of these provisions will require careful consideration particularly in view of the large numbers of people who live in other countries and who have or are entitled to have Irish citizenship. However, this matter will be reviewed in the context of future amendments to the Civil Registration Act 2004.