Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the short debate on this important matter, which has afforded the House the opportunity to mark the month in which Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day occurs. We know that 300 to 350 families are affected by stillbirths annually. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is also conscious of those parents who register stillbirths on the understanding that the records will not be open to public access. Some formulation should be found to accommodate their needs and wishes.

As I said, the Minister of the day set two aims for the relevant legislation when it was introduced in 1994. The first was to recognise the therapeutic effect that registration might deliver for grieving parents. The second was to create a permanent record akin to the register of births within the civil registration system. The challenge is to ensure these two aims are being addressed in the current manner in which registrations are completed and records accessed. As the legislation stands, access is very restrictive and somewhat out of line with the access allowed for other forms of registration where sensitivities are also engaged. The Minister is committed to engaging with parents and interested parties to see whether a better formulation can be found to address their concerns while also aligning the operation of the stillbirth register with other registers maintained by the GRO. I will take the points the Deputy made about access to maternity leave and benefit to the Minister. I thank her for the opportunity to address this topic.

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