Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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122. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding the Civil Registration Bill 2014; when this Bill will be introduced; and if, in view of the regrettable delays at amending the law regarding the issuance of death certificates of Irish persons who die while abroad, the Bill will have sufficient retrospective applicability. [24123/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Bill is currently being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government. Drafting is at an advanced stage and it is my intention to seek Cabinet approval for the publication of the Bill in the coming weeks.The legislation will provide for the development of a mechanism to record the deaths of Irish persons normally resident in the State who die while on short-term absences from the State. When a person dies abroad the death is registered by the authorities in that country, from which a certified copy of the death registration is obtainable. In general, only deaths which occur within the State can be registered here although there are some exceptions, such as the death of a person on board an Irish aircraft, the death of a member of the security forces serving outside the State or where a death occurs in a country which does not have a system in place to register deaths. I realise that it is very important for families to have the death of their loved one abroad recorded in Ireland. In this regard, the Department has examined options for providing a mechanism that deals with these cases in a way that addresses the concerns of families while ensuring the validity of the current registration process. An important part of this proposal is that there will be retrospective applicability.