Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 15, line 38, after "State" to insert "further to which section 26 or 27 (as applied by section 28(8)) applies".

The register of births covers all children born in the State and, as we said on Committee Stage, children born to Irish citizens abroad in two exceptional cases. The first exception concerns children born to Irish citizens permanently resident in the State who have those children abroad where the birth is not registered or where no birth registration system exists, or where the registration system exists but where copies of birth certificates are not made available. The second exception is where children are born on Irish vessels or vessels coming to or from the State, or who are born to members of the Garda Síochána or the Army serving abroad. The provisions regarding the registration of foreign births are made in sections 26 and 27 and are welcomed by everybody. They represent a significant advance in the recording and registration of certain other births occurring outside the State.

Unfortunately, neither of these provisions applies to stillbirths. Accordingly, the only stillbirths that can be registered are those that take place in the State. A stillbirth abroad can never be registered, even if a live birth could have been registered under the same circumstances. The Labour Party amendment is intended to address this anomaly and permit the registration of foreign stillbirths in a similar manner to the registration of foreign live births. We urge the Minister to consider it. We had a fairly extensive and comprehensive debate on this matter on Committee Stage. I hope the Minister has ruminated on it further between then and now and that something positive will emerge as a result of the amendment, which is trying to fill a lacuna in the legislation that we feel should be remedied.

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