First Previous (PART 4 Registration of Adoptions) Next (PART 6 Amendment of Law Relating to Marriages)

3 2004

Civil Registration Act 2004

PART 5

Registration of Deaths

“the register” (Part 5).

36. —In this Part, “the register” means the register of deaths, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly.

Provision of particulars, and registration, of deaths.

37. —(1) When a death occurs in the State, it is the duty of—

(a) a relative of the deceased who has knowledge of the required particulars in relation to the death, and

(b) if there is no such relative who can be found or every such relative is incapable through ill health of complying with this subsection, each other qualified informant, unless he or she reasonably believes that another qualified informant has complied with it in relation to the death,

within 3 months from the date of the death to give to any registrar the required particulars of the death in the form standing specified for the time being by an tArd-Chláraitheoir.

(2) Subject to section 40 , where, after the expiration of 3 months from the date of the death of a person in the State, the death has not been registered because of non-compliance with subsection (1), the authority in whose functional area the death occurred may serve a notice on any qualified informant requiring him or her—

(a) to attend before a registrar in that functional area or in the functional area of the authority in which the informant ordinarily resides at the office of the registrar or at any other convenient place specified in the notice within such time (not being less than 10 days from the date of the notice) as may be specified in the notice,

(b) there, to give to the registrar, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, in a form standing specified by an tArd-Chláraitheoir, the required particulars relating to the death and, if so requested by the registrar, the relevant certificate under section 42 , and

(c) there, to sign the register relating to the death in the presence of the registrar,

and, unless the death is duly registered before the expiration of the time specified in the notice, the informant shall comply with the requirement and, thereupon, the registrar shall register the death in such manner as an tArd-Chláraitheoir may direct.

(3) Where a person complies with subsection (1) in relation to a death, the other persons referred to in that subsection are discharged in relation to that death from the duty imposed by that subsection.

(4) This section applies also to a death that occurred before the commencement of this section and as respects which section 9 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Ireland) 1880 was not complied with.

(5) In this section “qualified informant”, in relation to a death, means—

(a) a relative of the deceased who has knowledge of the required particulars concerned,

(b) a person present at the death,

(c) any other person who has knowledge of the required particulars,

(d) if the death occurred in a building used as a dwelling or a part of a building so used, any person who was in the building or part at the time of the death,

(e) if the death occurred in a hospital or other institution or in a building or a part of a building occupied by any other organisation or enterprise, the chief officer of the institution, organisation or enterprise (by whatever name called) or a person authorised by the chief officer to perform his or her functions,

(f) a person who found the body of the person concerned,

(g) a person who took charge of that body,

(h) the person who procured the disposal of that body, or

(i) any other person who has knowledge of the death.

Registration of deaths occurring outside State of Irish citizens domiciled in State.

38. —An tArd-Chláraitheoir may, on production to him or her of such evidence as appears to him or her to be satisfactory, cause the death outside the State (other than a death to which section 39 applies) of an Irish citizen domiciled in the State to be registered in the register if—

(a) 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

(b) it is not possible to obtain copies of or extracts from civil records of the death.

Recording and registration of certain other deaths occurring outside State.

39. —(1) Regulations shall require such persons as may be specified to keep specified records of—

(a) the death of a person on board an Irish aircraft or an Irish ship,

(b) 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, and

(c) 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.

(2) Regulations shall provide for the transmission of copies of records referred to in subsection (1), certified by specified persons to be true copies, to an tArd-Chláraitheoir.

(3) An tArd-Chláraitheoir shall cause to be entered in the register the required particulars relating to deaths to which records referred to in subsection (1) relate.

(4) Regulations shall provide for the correction of errors in records kept under subsection (1) and for the transmission of copies, certified by specified persons to be true copies, of records corrected under this subsection to an tArd-Chláraitheoir.

(5) On receipt of a corrected record under subsection (4), an tArd-Chláraitheoir shall cause a correct entry that takes account of the corrected record to be entered in the register and the then existing entry relating to the death concerned shall be retained in the register.

(6) In this section—

“foreign aircraft” means an aircraft which is not an Irish aircraft;

“foreign ship” means a ship which is not an Irish ship;

“Irish aircraft” means an aircraft registered in the State;

“Irish ship” has the meaning assigned to it by the Mercantile Marine Act 1955 .

Registration after more than 12 months from death.

40. —(1) A registrar shall not register a death at a time more than 12 months from the date of the death or the finding of the body concerned without the consent in writing of the Superintendent Registrar of the authority by which the registrar is employed.

(2) The fact of the giving of a consent under subsection (1) shall be noted in the register.

Furnishing of particulars of death by a coroner to registrar.

41. —(1) Where, in pursuance of the Coroners Act 1962 , a coroner—

(a) holds an inquest,

(b) adjourns an inquest at which evidence of identification and medical evidence as to the cause of death has been given, or

(c) decides, as a result of a post-mortem examination, not to hold an inquest,

he or she shall give the appropriate registrar a certificate containing the required particulars of the death concerned and that registrar shall register the death in such manner as an tArd-Chláraitheoir may direct.

(2) Where a coroner inquires into the circumstances of a death without holding an inquest or causing a post-mortem examination to be made, he or she shall give the appropriate registrar a certificate containing the required particulars of the death and that registrar shall register the death in such manner as an tArd-Chláraitheoir may direct.

(3) Where there is an error in a certificate furnished under subsection (1) or (2) the coroner concerned may give a certificate correcting the error to the registrar concerned, and the registrar shall correct the error in the register.

(4) In this section “appropriate registrar” means a registrar in the functional area of the authority in which the body concerned is lying or was found.

Certificate of cause of death.

42. —(1) On the death following an illness of a person who was attended during that illness by a registered medical practitioner, the practitioner shall sign and give to a qualified informant (within the meaning of section 37 ) a certificate stating to the best of his or her knowledge and belief the cause of the death, and the informant shall give the certificate to any registrar together with the form specified in section 37 (1) containing the required particulars in relation to the death.

(2) Where a registrar is given a certificate under subsection (1), the registrar shall enter in the register, together with the required particulars—

(a) the cause of the death concerned stated in the certificate, and

(b) the name and address of the registered medical practitioner concerned.

Place of death.

43. —(1) Where the body of a dead person is found on land and the place in which the death occurred is not known, the death shall be registered by a registrar in the functional area of the authority in which the body is found.

(2) Where the body of a dead person is found in a river, lake or waterway or in the sea or any other area of water, the death shall be registered by a registrar in the functional area of the authority where the body is brought ashore from the area of water in question.

Power of coroner to authorise disposal of bodies.

44. —(1) A coroner may—

(a) when he or she has held an inquest on a body, but, subject to paragraph (b), in no other circumstances, if he or she thinks fit, by order authorise—

(i) a relative of the deceased person, or any other person, who proposes to cause the body to be disposed of, or

(ii) the undertaker, or any other person, who is in charge of the funeral of the deceased person,

to dispose of the body before the registration of the death, and

(b) authorise the disposal of a body, whether it is lying for the time being in or outside his or her district, irrespective of whether he or she has decided that it is, or will become, necessary to hold an inquest on it.

(2) In subsection (1), “disposal”, in relation to a body, means disposal by burial, cremation or any other means and cognate words shall be construed accordingly.