Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 170: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding the review of the Civil Registration Act 2004 to enable the registration of the deaths of Irish persons abroad; and if she has examined the legislation as it stands in the UK which was suggested during the adjournment debate of 24 May 2011 on the issue. [20617/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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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. However, Section 39 of the Act, provides for the following exceptions:

1. 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,

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

3. 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.

Section 38 of the Act makes provision for the registration of a death of an Irish citizen domiciled in the State in certain specific circumstances. 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. In other words, if the death could not be registered or if a death certificate could not be obtained, the death can be registered here. Although the number of such cases is extremely small it is considered reasonable to make provision for them.

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. 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 for these reasons alone there is no necessity for the death to be registered in the State.

Any broadening of the current provisions will require careful consideration. It will be appreciated that the number of people who live and die in other countries and who have or are entitled to have Irish citizenship is very large. This would have implications both for the registration process itself and for the vital statistics relating to deaths which are derived from registered events.

A death certificate is readily available in the overwhelming majority of these cases. However, I do appreciate that many families of the deceased feel strongly that by registration of the death, the person's death is given recognition in his/her own country and also that this fact would assist during a period of considerable grief.

The Department will therefore have this matter reviewed in the context of future amendments to the Civil Registration Act, 2004. A general review of the provisions of the Civil Registration Act, 2004 is expected to be completed later this year. The procedures and legislation on this issue, as it stands in the UK, will be considered as part of the review.