Vol. 537 No. 3
154 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason it has taken over two years for a death certificate to issue for a person (details supplied) from County Mayo; and the exact date this certificate will be available to the relatives of the deceased. [16220/01]
The administration of the registration system is statutorily a matter for An tArd-Chláraitheoir – Registrar-General – of Births, Deaths and Marriages and for registrars who operate under his general direction.
I have had inquiries made with An tArd-Chláraitheoir and I understand that a death may only be registered in the district in which it occurred. The Births and Deaths Acts, 1863 to 1996, and in regulations made under those Acts set out the manner in which deaths must be registered. The person registering the death – the qualified informant – must produce to the registrar a medical certificate of cause of death signed by a registered medical practitioner who treated the deceased within 28 days before the death. The qualified informant signs the entry in the register of deaths.
The list of qualified informants includes the nearest relatives of the deceased and if the death took place in a hospital the occupier of the hospital. Where the deceased has been attended in his or her last illness by a doctor, the person seeking to register the death must produce to the registrar a medical certificate of cause of death signed by a registered medical practitioner. Where the death has not been registered within 12 months of the death, the authority of An tArd Chláraitheoir must be obtained prior to the registration of the death.
In the case referred to by the Deputy, the deceased died in 1999en route to a hospital, and it was necessary to seek clarification as to the place of death. I understand that an amended medical certificate of cause of death stating the correct place of death has now been received by An tArd Chláraitheoir and the authority to register the death has been issued.
