Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I draw the Taoiseach's attention to a serious issue faced by many new parents since the cyberattack on the HSE in May and in the context of the ongoing challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since May, parents of newborn babies have been having extreme difficulties in registering their births. In many circumstances, they have been unable to register a birth at all, and that means those parents are being denied the opportunity even to apply for such services as GP-visit cards, passports, baptism certificates and child benefits. In addition, these parents are unable to include a newborn baby on any housing application, which is vital to those relying on housing assistance payment, HAP, support to pay their rent. This situation also means that a housing application cannot be upgraded to take into account the new accommodation needed for a household.

The Taoiseach will be aware that a family with one child is entitled to apply for a home with two bedrooms, while those with two children can apply for accommodation with three bedrooms. What is happening now, however, is that people on the housing lists are waiting between four and six months to get registered and to get birth certificates. In the meantime, if such families were to accept an offer of a two-bedroom house, that would mean they would end up on a transfer list and be waiting for another six or seven years, if not longer, to get suitable accommodation. This is unacceptable.

I understand and appreciate we are living in unprecedented times. It has been difficult for everybody. These parents of newborn babies, however, are being punished because of this situation. As I said, they are having extreme difficulty in registering their newborn babies and are unable to register them at all in some cases, which means they are being deprived of vital State services. In my home town of Dundalk, there are no walk-in services, and trying to contact those services is nearly impossible. Every time my office tries to contact the services, we are greeted by a message service advising that we should expect delays, that the services are understaffed and have a high workload. I call on the Taoiseach to rectify this situation. Additional staff are needed to sort out this problem, and I appeal to the Taoiseach to get his Government to put new staff in these posts.

A lady came into my office during the week who had a brand new, five-month-old baby. The child had a rash, so she went to the GP. The first thing the doctor asked her was if she had a birth certificate or personal public service number, PPSN, for the baby, and she said she did not. The GP examined the child and then gave that lady a bill for €60. The Taoiseach might think that is not much money to a parent with a baby, but it is. One thing families will do is to sacrifice everything they have for the health of their child. This is only one example of such circumstances. Acquiring a birth certificate must then be followed by an application for a PPSN, so this situation has a snowball effect. With the stroke of a pen, can the Taoiseach ensure GP-visit cards are issued straight away for newborn babies or help to push the system so these families can secure birth certificates? These are important things for families. The Taoiseach is a family man and, as the saying goes, your health is your wealth. Therefore, I plead with the Taoiseach to please sort out this situation.

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