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

I think the Deputies for their well thought out contributions today and last Tuesday, which are very much appreciated. There will be time to broaden and extend the discussion further on Committee Stage. The Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2014 is part of a suite of Bills introduced to modernise our civil registration service. The first of these was the Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2012 which provided for secular bodies to apply to conduct marriages. Most people agree it was very successful legislation. On 17 June 2014, the general scheme of the gender recognition Bill 2014 was published. The Bill will give legal recognition to transgender people. The Bill is being drafted and I intend to publish it later this year. It is one of the priorities of my Department and me to bring the Bill before the House as soon as possible.

The Bill before us today contains significant new provisions and provides a wide range of changes and improvements in the civil registration service. The compulsory inclusion of fathers names on birth certificates, which has been mentioned in many contributions today, is one of the progressive elements because every child has the right to know the identity of his or her father and mother. Current legislation does not require the mother or the father to provide the father’s details when registering the birth if the parents are not married to each other. The registration of the father's name on the birth certificate confers no additional rights on the father of a child, and this was touched on many times during the debate.

Deputy O’Dea raised points regarding how the changes will operate in practice if a woman makes a statutory declaration that she does not know the identity of the child's father when in reality she does. In such a case, she is clearly committing an offence under the Statutory Declarations Act 1938 and section 69 of the Civil Registration Act 2004. In the case where a mother claims she does not know the whereabouts of the father, she would be required to supply his name and any further information on his identity, such as his last known address or contact details. The registrar would then make all reasonable efforts to contact the man named as the father.

Deputy Ó Snodaigh asked about the extent of re-registration. The figure is approximately 1,000 instances of re-registration of a father's name at a later stage. A number of Deputies raised the issue of marriages of convenience. The Bill aims to address marriages of inconvenience - sorry, I mean convenience; we sometimes go there. The Bill introduces measures to combat the occurrence of such marriages. The right to marry is a basic right and EU citizens and their families have a right to move freely within the territories of member states. These rights also apply to non-EU nationals who are spouses of EU nationals. Irish society has greatly benefitted from the free movement of EU citizens across Europe. However, criminal entities are abusing our system by using marriage laws in Ireland to gain an automatic right to residency in Europe. The vast majority of marriages are consensual. A key feature of the provision is to protect the safety of women, particularly vulnerable young women and there have been a number of contacts from embassies about this and the dangers of trafficking.

The Bill includes an honest attempt to try to control this. I direct Members to section 18 which outlines the roles and responsibilities of the registrar in detail, which did not exist previously. Members might like to re-examine it. We want to try to ensure women are protected in these circumstances and it is a very good amendment to the original Act. The registrar has a good opportunity to form an opinion on whether a marriage is genuine. Deputy O’Dea asked whether there would be an appeals mechanism. The Civil Registration Act 2004 already provides for an appeal process where required. The same process, which allows an appeal to the family Circuit Court, will be available in the case of such marriages. Another question was whether legal aid will be available, and this is a matter for the Legal Aid Board and the courts.

The provision for embassy marriages is a practical solution for what happened, and I covered it clearly in the earlier debate. A number of marriages took place in embassies that were not clearly under Irish legislation, and the Bill will allow those marriages and civil partnerships to be recognised. Deputy O’Dea queried the provision referring to the constitutional rights which arise in sections 19 and 26. These sections cover the retrospective validation of embassy marriages and civil partnerships. This is a fail-safe provision which is not unique in the legislation. Deputy O’Dea has concerns and I hope this covers those concerns in a very clear way. The provision is there because of a recognition that the sections could impact on people's property rights and the intention in such cases, if they ever arise, is that legislation will be clearly understood not to be attempting to curtail these rights.

It is not a new departure to have these types of provisions, particularly where the legislation will have some form of retrospective effect. Civil partnerships which took place in embassies or diplomatic missions prior to the commencement of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 will be provided for within this Bill.

Many Members covered the record of deaths abroad. Deputy Kyne, Senator Healy Eames and other Deputies have raised this on a number of occasions. It is accepted broadly across the House that the record of deaths abroad addresses those issues raised, especially by Deputy Kyne where he introduced a Private Members' Bill. This is where we can see the reform that is coming into this Government. The Private Members' Bill has informed an element of this legislation.

Deputy Catherine Murphy covered the area of online access to historical records. This is becoming ever more important. Deputy Olivia Mitchell also referred to this. It is covered clearly in this Bill, but we must be careful that citizens' privacy is also protected. In the Bill, we are acting within the international norm.

Deputy Murphy also raised the General Register Office in Werburgh Street. As a result, I intend to visit the office to see exactly what the Deputy means. I will come back to her at a further stage in regard to the specifics because it is not within the Bill.

A number of Members raised the issue of registration of a baby in a very sad circumstances as a result of the mother's death late in pregnancy. The legal issues arising here are being carefully examined. Should it be determined that the existing legislation is inadequate, I will bring forward an amendment on Committee Stage.

Birth certificates were covered. In the case of adopted persons, the Adoption Act 2010 provides for the option of two types of birth certificate for an adopted person - one states clearly that the person is adopted and the other is an abridged version. The current provisions are there because people wanted the choice. Before there would be any changes, there would need to be a much broader consultation. There was an in-depth debate in the Seanad in this regard, and Deputy Daly has raised it again. The issue has been brought to the attention of my colleague, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, who has responsibility for policy and legislation for adoption. I am happy to cover that during Committee Stage.

This Bill is progressive. I compliment the staff in the Department for their hard work in bringing it forward. I thank the Members for their contributions. There were will be further in-depth contributions on Committee Stage.

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