A
Press Release by the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations
Re:
Ireland's Civil Registration Bill 2003 , published on the 17
th July 2003
The
Bill will receive its first reading in the Dáil on Wednesday 28
th January. Mary Coughlin TD, Minister for Social & Family Affairs,
is sponsoring it. Representations have been made by various Irish interest
groups (see attached list) relating to clauses within the Bill dealing
with the future registration of Irish deaths. Whilst provision has been
made in the Bill for the future recording of the ‘date of birth' of all
deceased persons (never before recorded in Ireland since registration
of such events first commenced in 1864), no provision has been made for
the recording of the ‘place of birth' of deceased persons.
Various
interested parties and bodies have over the past number of years, and
again very recently, drawn the Department's attention to Article 115 of
the United Nations' ‘Model Civil Registration Law', produced by the UN
to
assist third world and under-developed countries in setting up modern
civil registration systems . The ninth item of this Article provides for
the registration at death of the “ date and place of birth ”
of all deceased persons.
Irish
death registrations (unchanged since 1864) have long been recognised,
both at home and abroad, as lacking in vital detail. The data recorded
is so sparse that in too many cases it is not possible to differentiate
between one record and another, particularly where a record is sought
for a deceased who bears a prolific name (e.g. Murphy, Reilly, Walsh).
In future, registration data is to be computerised. This will mean that
in years ahead, with the use of the ‘Personal Public Service Number' (PPSN;
see attached notes), it will be possible to interrogate the computerised
system to locate all records that relate to any named individual.
However,
only events registered prospectively will record the PPSN. Therefore it
will take about a generation before those who have a PPSN attached to
their birth registration begin to marry and thus acquire a marriage registration
upon which their PPSN appears. Further, sixty to seventy years plus will
need to pass before appreciable numbers of Irish citizens (with a PPSN
attached to their birth registration) begin to die. Only then will it
be possible to use the computerised records system of the General Register
Office to make links between birth and death registrations, and therefore
be able to establish who is living and who is deceased.
Of
the countries included in a 1970s UN survey, it was found that approximately
50% recorded a deceased person's date and place of birth in death registrations.
Recently, a 2002 UN publication (citing typical examples of death registrations
from around the world) found that approximately 85% include the type of
detail vital to clearly establish a deceased person's identity in relation
to their birth details. Further, current data released by the UN's Department
of Economic & Social Affairs shows that of 19 sample countries (of
diverse economic status) surveyed with regard to civil registration practices,
17 recorded a deceased person's date of birth and 14 their place of birth.
Currently,
in the context of the data recorded in Ireland's death registrations,
such records are by far the least informative across the entire European
Union. However, even with the changes now built into the new Bill, Ireland's
death registrations will continue to fall far short of standards set by
its European Union partners. (Attached is a schedule of what data it is
proposed to record in future). All current member states of the European
Union, other than Greece, record the place of birth of deceased persons.
(In the case of Greece, it records the deceased's parents' full names).
When
the Department of Social & Family Affairs was challenged about the
importance of recording a deceased person's place of birth (as well as
their date of birth), the Department responded (in a letter from Minister
Mary Coughlin TD, on January 8 th ) by stating that it would not be necessary
to record such data as it would be “ of no tangible benefit to the
registration system or State organisations ” and (in direct contradiction
to Article 115 of the UN's ‘Model Law') stated that such data was “ outside
the requirements of civil registration ”.
24th
January 2004
****************************************************************************************************
Main
Points in
Brief
-
Including
only the date of birth in future Irish death registrations
will be the cause of much confusion as Ireland has only a small pool
of surnames. Consequently, it is all too easy to find examples of
namesakes born on the same day (although in different parts of Ireland).
Including the place of birth in death records will remove such confusion.
(**Greece
records the deceased person's parents' names and native places.)
*****************************************************************************************
BRIEFING
NOTES
About
the Bill
-
The
Civil Registration Bill 2003 was published on the 17 th July
2003. It will receive its first reading in the Dáil on Wednesday
28 th January. Mary Coughlin TD, Minister for Social & Family
Affairs, is sponsoring it.
About
the General Register Office
-
In
April 1845, the registration of all Jewish and Christian non-Catholic
marriages commenced. In January 1864, the registration of all births,
deaths and marriages commenced.
About
the Personal Public Service Number (PPSN)
-
The
Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) is a unique reference number
that helps the bearer to gain access to social welfare benefits and
information from public service agencies in Ireland, such as the Department
of Social & Family Affairs, the Revenue Commissioners, and Health
Boards. The PPSN is the new name for the Revenue and Social Insurance
(RSI) number. This number will be used to allow civil registration
documents to be linked together on the new civil registration database
of registration records.
About
the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO)
The
Council for Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO) is an umbrella group
representing the genealogical community within Ireland and worldwide.
It grew out of the ‘GRO User's Group', which was formed in the early 1990's.
It represents almost all of Ireland's societies and organisations involved
in genealogical research as well as a number of others based in the English-speaking
world.
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