A city family addressed an Oireachtas committee yesterday (Wednesday ) calling on the Minister for Social Protection to amend existing legislation so that the deaths of Irish citizens abroad may be registered at home in Ireland.
The O’Reilly family from Merlin Park lost their 22-year-old son, Keith, in a diving accident in the United States last July.
Together with the parents of another young man - Brian Forde (27 ) from Athenry who died in a fall from a building in New York in the same month last year - they began a “Bring Them Home” Facebook campaign. It has more than 2,000 signatories.
The fact that Irish people who die abroad cannot have their deaths registered at home comes as a “major shock” to many people, but especially to the families of the two young Galway men who died while holidaying in America last summer, says Senator Fidelma Healy Eames.
The Fine Gael politician says there is a pressing need for the current system to be changed.
“I am calling on the Minister for Social Protection to amend the Civil Registration Act 2004. As it stands the death of an Irish citizen who dies abroad is only recorded and registered in the Republic if he or she was on an Irish aircraft or ship, a foreign ship or aircraft that was in transit, or a serving member of the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces. This means that for the majority of Irish citizens who die abroad their deaths will never be recorded or registered in their home country. This is not the case in other countries like UK or US.”
Some 244 Irish citizens died abroad last year but their deaths were not recorded in this country, she says.
“This issue has been brought to the fore as a result of a Facebook campaign embarked upon by the parents of Keith O’Reilly from Merlin Park and Brian Forde from Athenry, which has so far been signed by in excess of 2,000 signatories.
“The lack of registration at home makes the grieving process exceedingly more difficult for the family members left behind. It also means that tracking one’s ancestors could be hindered for future generations as they attempt to search through Irish documentation. These deceased were born in Ireland and were educated here. The two young men to whom I refer were on holiday in the United States and as a result of this legislation have been denied the right to be recognised by their country in death.”
She is calling for this issue to be examined in detail. “The Minister For Social Protection Eamon O’Cuiv in a reply to me in the Senate committed to examining this request. So far, there has been no update and now this brave Irish family presented their case in front of an Oireachtas hearing. I am supporting them.”
She accepts that the detail of a change to the law is important. “For example, we must look at the cases where one might not see fit to register an Irish citizen’s death abroad, perhaps if he or she had gained citizenship in another country. One must live in the United States for five years before qualifying for citizenship. However, where a young person has been on holiday or is working abroad temporarily the Government should see fit to register his or her death in his/her home country.
“I will be restating the need for Minister Ó’Ciuv to look carefully at the legislation and to amend it for the sake of our citizens who lose their lives overseas and their grieving families left behind.”
