The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust has brought the bodies of 212 people who have died abroad back to Ireland since it was first set up three years ago.
Colin Bell told the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee that the trust was set up after the death of his son Kevin in a hit-and-run incident in New York in June 2013.
He recalled how he was at his home in Newry, Co Down, when the received the news about Kevin’s death and that the whole town went "into a frenzy of fundraising".
He said Kevin's employers in the US paid for his body to be brought home and the fund was left with £150,000 from the fundraising efforts locally.
Mr Bell told the committee that a short time after, a man from Carryduff, Co Down died in Thailand and they contacted his family to say that would pay for his body to be repatriated and from that the Kevin Bell Repatriation Fund was set up. He said it has acquired charitable status in Northern Ireland.
He said the fund has brought home 212 people so far and last November alone it brought back the bodies of eight young people from Australia.
Mr Bell said that following a meeting with the then diaspora minister Jimmy Deenihan, every consulate and embassy has the number of the trust and repatriations have increased.
He told the committee that the trust is family-run and no one takes any payment. He also said the trust applied for charitable status in the Republic 18 months ago and is still awaiting a response.
Mr Bell said the trust needs €30,000 annually to cover the cost of the office and part-time staff.
Sinn Féin TD Kathleen Funchion said if embassies and consulates are providing the trust’s contact details, the Department of Foreign Affairs should provide it funding.
Mr Bell said the fund has brought people home from Australia and the US, but it has also repatriated the body of an 87-year-woman who died on holidays in Bulgaria.
Colin Bell tells Foreign Affairs Cmmttee @KBRT2013 (Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust) has flown 212 Irish bodies home in last 3 yrs @rtenews
— Conor McMorrow (@ConorMcMorrow) September 22, 2016
