I propose to take Questions Nos. 305, 306, 308, 317, 323, 334, 357, 364, 365 and 371 together.
Under the provisions and procedures governing the registration of deaths in Ireland, which are contained in Part 5 of the Civil Registration Act, 2004, if 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 can be registered. However, Section 39 of the Act provides for the following exceptions:
- The death of an Irish citizen 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;
- The death of a person on board an Irish aircraft or an Irish ship;
- The death of a member 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.
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.
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, i.e. 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.
The number of Irish citizens who are domiciled in Ireland and who die abroad is relatively small in the context of total deaths occurring here in any given year. My understanding is that the vast majority of these people were travelling abroad for leisure or business purposes. I am aware that the Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection has recommended amending the current legislation in order to enable deaths of Irish citizens who have died abroad to be registered here.
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. This issue is currently being considered in my Department along with a number of other proposed amendments to the Civil Registration Act (2004) and in this regard it is hoped that legislation will be introduced in 2013.
