Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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1047. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there have been changes to the way a person registers the death of a family member such as changes in an extension of the three month deadline or changes with walk-in offices if there must be an appointment during Covid-19 restrictions. [1916/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The requirements for registration of a death are set out in Part 5 of the Civil Registration Act 2004, as amended.  This Part sets out that it is the duty of a qualified informant to attend before any registrar to register a death within 3 months of the date of a person's death.  

There have been no changes to this requirement.  For the period that Civil Registration Offices were closed during 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19, registration of a death could be completed without the need for attendance by the qualified informant.  Civil Registration Offices re-opened from 1st October 2021.

The HSE are responsible for the day-to-day delivery of Civil Registration Services and they have advised that a mixture of walk-in and appointment-based services are in operation at the 60 Civil Registration Offices located across the country.

I can advise the Deputy that a death can be registered at any Civil Registration Office.  No penalties arise where a qualified informant is unable to comply with their duty to register a death within 3 months where there are reasonable grounds for non-compliance.  This includes circumstances where there is no appointment available within 3 months.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.