Grieving families want law changed to allow relatives’ deaths abroad be registered here

GRIEVING families whose loved ones died abroad have appealed to the Government to change the legislation so that their deaths can be registered at home.

Untold agony is being experienced by hundreds of families whose deceased relatives cannot be registered as dead in Ireland and whose identity has been “robbed,” an Oireachtas Committee heard yesterday.

TDs and senators agreed to formally urge the Minister for Social Protection to amend the law so Irish citizens who die abroad can be recorded as deceased here and not solely on foreign soil.

Families with the campaign group, Bring Them Home, told the committee of the difficulties grieving parents and partners faced trying to complete unfinished business after loved ones died abroad.

Heartbroken mother Yvonne O’Reilly described how her student son Keith, 24, died after a tragic swimming accident last September while looking for work in Chicago.

After receiving a death certificate from an American coroner, the Galway mother returned home but was shocked: “Some weeks later I gained the strength to register Keith [as dead]. I was devastated to learn that I was unable to do so as the death of an Irish citizen outside this country is not recorded here.

“Without a record and registration of Keith’s death here in Ireland, it will forever feel as though a piece of him remains stranded across a vast ocean, miles from family, miles from home.”

The Oireachtas Committee on Social and Family Affairs has agreed to write to Minister Éamon O Cuív to ask him to amend the 2004 Civil Registration Act.

The legislation says deaths may only be registered in Ireland if they occur within its borders, with the exception of the deaths of gardaí, soldiers as well as citizens who die on aircraft or vessels while away.

Ms O’Reilly said she was forced to travel repeatedly to Chicago for copies of her son’s death certificates.

Often families needed the documents to cancel bank accounts, airline tickets or even college places, the committee was told.

Future generations would also have difficulties trying to trace their ancestors, TDs were told, unless the law was changed.

“These people are not just statistics: they are sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters,” Ms O’Reilly added.

In the last three years, some 598 Irish citizens have lost their lives abroad, with 244 dying on foreign soil last year alone.

Backing an amendment to the legislation, Senator Fidelma Healy Eames said: “The lack of registration at home makes the grieving process exceedingly more difficult for the family members left behind.”

Committee TDs and senators across all parties yesterday agreed to back changes to the legislation.

The minister’s department said it would review the matter for future legislation.

It added that the number of Irish people who live and die abroad was “very large” and any changes would have implications for the registration process and the recording of vital statistics for the state overall.