Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh. This is a reforming Bill. To his credit the Deputy recognised in the House the benefits to the father of the inclusion of the father's name on the birth certificate. It is progress. We are making technical amendments to ensure that the register is robust.

I will try to answer some of the questions the Deputy raised. On the child safety element of not including the father's name, on receipt of a statutory declaration from the mother that it would not be in the best interests of the child to have the name of the father included, the Registrar, taking into account the evidence available to him or her, may decide not to include the father's name on the birth record. In the case of the safety or best interest of the child, that allows for the mother to give a statutory declaration.

On the case of those underage, we cannot deal with everything within the register. In the cases the Deputy outlined, that would have come to notice at a stage much earlier than the issue of a birth certificate. The question of whether or not to prosecute an individual is a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions. All matters relevant to the DPP are proper to my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality. We have liaised with the Department of Justice and Equality to ascertain the current statutory powers of the DPP in prosecution of minors which is covered under section 3 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006. There is an element of discretion within that Act. We will forward that section of the Act to the Deputy afterwards or, if he wishes, I can read through it now.