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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 28 Feb 2001

Vol. 531 No. 4

Written Answers. - General Register Office.

Denis Naughten

Question:

54 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will take the opportunity presented by the scanning and computerisation of the records of the General Register Office, as part of its move from Joyce House to Roscommon, to have the information collated in future in such a way as to generate statistics which would automatically give cause for investigation if, for example, the number of unexplained deaths in an area exceeded agreed numbers; and if lessons can be learned from the Shipman murders in the United Kingdom by proactively monitoring statistics here. [5499/01]

The Registration of Births and Deaths Acts, 1863 to 1996, provide for the registration of deaths. As the Deputy may be aware, a joint programme of work, aimed at modernising the Civil Registration Service, is being undertaken by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs and my Department, which will involve the review of the entire registration system, including registration law, the structure of registration on a national basis in order to identify the changes necessary to capitalise on the use of modern technology to capture registration information in an electronic format at the point of registration in a modern, efficient and legally adequate system. It is the intention that the system will incorporate a link to all life events associated with each person. The issue raised by the Deputy will be examined in the context of that review.

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