Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste to the House in her new role. I wish her well in her enhanced responsibilities and in regard to the great honour that has been bestowed on her. I have no doubt she will carry out her responsibilities with her usual efficiency.
I welcome the legislation. Fianna Fáil supports this Bill, which provides for a number of positive changes to civil registration in Ireland, including the compulsory registration of the father's name on birth certificates. The legislation will also make it more difficult to make a marriage or civil partnership of convenience within the State. It will ensure that the death of an Irish person abroad is recorded and allow for the validation of foreign embassy marriages and civil partnerships that have already taken place in Ireland and that are still in existence.
In fact, in looking through the Bill, I have been struck by its human dimension. There is a great deal of humanity in it and, while legislation generally can be dry and dull, and somewhat obtuse and abstract, the impact of some sections of this Bill on people's lives will be quite profound. For example, section 8 provides for the re-registration of a birth of a child, where the parents were not married on the date of the birth, on foot of a court order. While perhaps not important in the current situation or at the time the registration is made, in adult life subsequently it will be very important and relevant to the individual concerned. Section 10, again looking at the human dimension, allows for a stillbirth to be registered later than 12 months after the occurrence of the stillbirth, because it is a very traumatic experience.
Section 14, interestingly, provides that couples who produce a court order exempting them from giving three months' notice of intention to marry will be required to pay a fee. It also provides that, where one or both of the people giving notice of intent to marry is a foreign national, they must provide to a registrar information and documentary evidence regarding their immigration status. The Minister might explain on what grounds a couple would go before a court looking for a three-month exemption, given that is it is not spelled out why that would happen.
I wholeheartedly endorse the sections of the Bill which provide for new procedures regarding potential marriages of convenience. This was a blight on Ireland in the past. The Government got caught on the hop in 1997 or 1998, when the Celtic tiger economy kicked in and Ireland began to have a pull factor for people. Then, of course, in 2004, when we effectively opened the gates to ten new EU countries, the House may remember there was a great deal of controversy over alleged cases of heavily pregnant women coming into Ireland specifically for the purpose of having their children born here so they could automatically claim Irish citizenship and nationality. Those loopholes are being closed off and this is the latest step in that regard.
Citizenship is a very precious gift. For those who might feel that legislation of this sort is somehow bordering on being anti-foreign, it is protecting the integrity of our citizenship. There is no question about this issue. There have been television documentaries, not only in Ireland but also in Britain, demonstrating that quite frankly unscrupulous men and equally unscrupulous women who wanted to avail of the lax laws in this country came here and had marriages of convenience primarily or exclusively for the purpose of becoming Irish citizens. I wholeheartedly welcome this change because not only is it ensuring the integrity of citizenship but, as the Minster said, it is protecting the sanctity of marriage, and marriage is very precious gift as well.
The same could be true of the succeeding sections. Section 16 provides for the validation of certain marriages carried out at foreign embassies in the State. Again, I remember there being some controversy about this some years ago. It became an issue when people who had had their marriage validated in the embassy of their country in this or some other country found when they came to Ireland that the marriage was not recognised. It is interesting that the Minister referred to the fact this was a once-off situation and that the Bill would validate marriages carried out in such a fashion that had already been registered. Does this mean it does not apply from the time the Bill is enacted and is only retrospective? Section 21, which provides for the validation of certain civil partnerships carried out at foreign embassies in the State, is welcome.
Section 24 provides for the sharing of information with Government Departments and agencies under the relevant Acts for specific purposes in order that the information may be used for policy and planning initiatives. I was interested to note that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is included in this section, along with the Department of Education and Skills. The Minister might explain the background to this amendment of section 66 of the principal Act, which refers to:

(i) “the Road Safety Authority and any person, being a person with whom that Authority has an agreement ... to whom the Authority requests the Minister to give the information” for “the Minister for Transport”, and
(ii) “learner permits” for “provisional licences”.

The Minister for Health is involved where the Bill refers to: “the Minister or the Executive, hospital or”, and the Minister for Education and Skills is also involved.

I am sure the Tánaiste will have an opportunity to expand a little on section 24 as to what the purposes of providing this information will be. I can appreciate that the Department of Education and Skills needs it for policy and planning initiatives. I am sure there are valid reasons, but I am curious to know what they are.

Section 29 provides for the deletion of the words "age next birthday" from the register of deaths. I have always been fascinated by the request made on a lot of forms, particularly those used by insurance companies. I could never understand the relevance of the question on one's age and I am sure the Minister will give the background information on why the provision has been included and will put the matter in context. I welcome the provision and the section is a sensible one.

Section 30 allows the Minister for Social Protection to request information from certain information holders, as defined under the Bill, but I could not find anything which expanded on the provision. The amendment of the Immigration 2003 is provided for in Part 3 which contains section 30 and comprises two lines that read: "amended ... by the insertion of "or the Civil Registration Act 2004" after "Social Welfare Acts"." Perhaps the Minister might expand a little on the information she will request and identify the certain information holders from which she will request it.

I welcome the Bill and compliment the Minister on bringing it forward. Some of the sections were delayed far too long by the previous Administration and it has taken three and half years to get to this stage. For the vast majority of the population the Bill will not have much relevance. Overall, it is humanely balanced legislation that will have a very positive and profound impact on certain sections of the population. Inclusiveness is what society should be about; it is what the Government is about and what most politicians want.