Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The legal advice was very clear that we needed a court procedure when assigning parentage retrospectively. That is the reason it is built in in this way. Of course, many of the children who are being spoken about will have been registered as the children of both in an opposite sex couple and benefit from the presumptions of parentage. It is primarily an issue where there is a dispute.

I wish to inform the committee that I plan to make technical amendments to this section on Report Stage. This will include amending the definition of "repealed enactments" within the meaning of the Civil Registration Act 2004.