Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 21 Apr 1998

Vol. 489 No. 6

Written Answers. - Live Births Register.

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

378 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Health and Children if his Department has details relating to children whose birth details are inaccurately recorded in the register of live births; if so, the total number involved per year; the remedial action, if any, taken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8669/98]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen)

The administration of the registration system is a matter for the registrar-general of births, deaths and marriages and for local registrars who operate under his general direction.

I am informed by the registrar-general that there is no timeframe specified in the question and there are several interpretations of this question particularly false information in respect of a non marital child, or a simple error in the given name of a child, corrected locally by a registrar on production of a baptismal certificate or form certifying name given not in baptism.

In neither case would it be possible to answer the question, as in the former case no one would be aware of the inaccuracy except in exceptional circumstances, where the child or the qualified informant contacted the registrar-general. In the latter case, these errors are not uncommon but could only be quantified by the physical examination of all registers in each of the 330 registration districts. I take it that the Deputy is referring to amendments to birth entries other than the registration of births under the Status of Children Act, 1987, and the Legitimacy Act, 1931. The position is that the most frequent amendment to a birth entry is the correction of a forename on production of a baptismal certificate or a form certifying name given not in baptism. As such amendments may be made locally by registrars in any of the 330 registration districts throughout the country in accordance with regulations and on production of the evidence referred to above, the specific authority of the registrar-general is not required and no statistics of such amendments are maintained centrally.