Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2020
796. Deputy Frankie Feighan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will direct the HSE to enable a person (details supplied) to add that person's signature to the birth certificate of that person's child; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12357/20]
View answerThe procedure for registering births is set out in Part 3 of the Civil Registration Act 2004, as amended.
It is the duty of the parents to register the birth of their child within 3 months of the birth by attending at a local Civil Registration Service office. In doing so, the parent(s) is/are acting as qualified informant(s) for the birth and this is recorded in the register of births. In cases where only one of the parents attends to register the birth, the other parent is discharged from this duty.
In the matter of the registration of the birth of the child referred to by the Deputy, the mother attended the registrar’s office and gave the required particulars and signed the register declaring these particulars to be correct in the presence of a registrar. In this circumstance, there is no further requirement on the father with respect to the registration. As the father did not attend at the time of registration, he is not required to sign the register. I am advised that the Civil Registration Act does not provide for a register entry to be retrospectively signed.
The Deputy may wish to note that the legal requirement on parents to attend a registrar’s office to register a birth has been temporarily suspended during the COVID-19 Emergency. Arrangements can be made for parents to sign the register of births registered since 13th March 2020, should they wish and when Civil Registration Service offices re-open to the public, provided that the parents acted as qualified informants by signing the necessary declaration contained in the electronic or postal birth registration form they submitted to register the birth of their child.
I hope that this information is helpful to the Deputy.
