According to a 2010 report of the European Network of Registers of Wills Association (ENRWA), of the remaining two members, Malta is amenable to the creation of a register and already has a system for storage of wills in court vaults – but Ireland is specifically referenced in the report as the sole member lacking the political will to create a Register of Wills.
Not participated
The project coordinator of the “Euro Wills” project Celine Mangin stated that a Department of Justice representative had not participated in their workshop and that she had received a response to the effect there was no plan to create a Register of Wills in Ireland. If all EU members participated in the program, a single will search could be made across the EU for a modest fee.
In fact, Ireland’s aversion to the creation of a register goes back to 1972, when it was the sole member of a group of nine of the Council of Europe, which subsequently comprised the EEC in 1973, that failed to sign the Convention on the Establishment of a Scheme of Registration of Wills, held in Basel, Switzerland, on May 16th, 1972. The Convention is still operational, though its Directorate did not elaborate as to why Ireland had failed to participate – stating, only that there was no written record explaining Ireland’s reasons for not doing so.
Source: Irish times
Shane Dowling is the Principal of Direct Law Solicitors with offices in Skerries and Swords
