Civil Registration Service

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 January 2012

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Questions (110)

Joanna Tuffy

Question:

107 Deputy Joanna Tuffy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on a newspaper report that there are plans to provide for compulsory registration of unmarried fathers on the birth certificate of a child; if this is in order to implement the recommendation of the Law Reform Commission to link compulsory registration of unmarried fathers with automatic guardianship for those fathers, a reform that has been called for by the commission in its 2010 report on legal aspects of family relationship but also its report on the status of children in 1982; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4624/12]

Written answers

Minister for Social Protection (Deputy Joan Burton)

The Law Reform Commission, in its report Legal Aspects of Family Relationships, makes recommendations relating to the conduct of family relationships, including compulsory joint registration of the birth of a child where the parents are not married to each other. The Commission also recommended that compulsory joint registration be linked to automatic joint parental responsibility (guardianship).

It is my intention to seek the approval of the Government for the drafting of heads of a bill to amend the Civil Registration Act 2004 to include the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission as they apply to civil registration matters, including joint compulsory registration of births by parents where they are not married to each other. Responsibility for guardianship rests with the Minister for Justice and Law Reform.