Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

There will not be that many of them. It is a fairly simply exercise for the authority to consider. In the vast majority of cases there will not be an issue. As long as we leave matters are they are under the old system, where a real substantive issue arises, it will be dealt with in a certain way, as occurred in a case of a man who was in jail for two or three years but he had known his children at a very early part of their lives and the adoption order has already been effected. If one were to put the child at the centre of that equation, one would say that the better solution would have been require the Adoption Board to refer the matter to the High Court for the issue to be properly assessed as early as possible in the life of the child to ensure that the child's best interests would be served in the process rather than any considerations about resource implications.

With regard to the point raised by Deputy O'Sullivan regarding a birth certificate, section 22 of the Civil Registration Act provides that the father of a child who was not married to the mother of the child at the date of his or her birth or at any time during the period of ten months before such birth shall not be required to give information about the birth. The registrar shall enter the father's details in the register if the mother and father jointly request this or on the production to the registrar of a court order or statutory declaration naming the father of the child. No legal rights accrue to the father by being named in the birth certificate. The father has to apply for and be granted guardianship under the Act in order for his consent to an adoption to be required. We do not wish to do anything in this legislation that might discourage fathers from agreeing to their name being included on the child's birth certificate.

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