Austin Deasy
Ceist:177 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Health the reason for the delay in issuing a birth certificate to a person (details supplied) in County Waterford; and when it will issue.
Written Answers. - Birth Certificate Delay.
The administration of the civil 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 the birth of the child in question has been registered and that a certified copy of the relevant entry in the Register of Births — i.e. birth certificate — may be obtained on payment of the appropriate fee to the local registrar. I am also informed that when the birth was originally registered information as to the paternity of the child was given to the local registrar and entered in the register. These paternity details are now being challenged by the mother and an amendment to the entry has been requested.
All amendments to the original entry would require the authority of the registrar-general and his office have been in correspondence with the mother and have also contacted her by phone. This particular case raises some complex legal issue in relation to the re-registration of non-marital births and it remains to be determined what, if any, amendment may, given the relevant legal constraints, appropriately be made to the existing entry.
The mother will be contacted again as soon as these issues have been clarified by the registrar-general's office.