Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The entire section, including the amendment, refers to recording registrations of certain other births occurring outside the State. Section 13 covers births in the State while section 27 covers births outside the State. As that is construed as including reference to stillbirths and births respectively, it covers the issue the Senator is raising. Section 26(2) of the Bill states:

Subsection (1) applies to the stillbirth of a child as it applies to the birth of a child and, accordingly, references in that subsection to birth and births shall be construed as including references to stillbirth and stillbirths, respectively.

Sections 26(2) and 27(6) indicate clearly that when speaking of a birth of a child it shall be construed as including the stillbirth of a child and that there is no differential in both the registration of births and stillbirths.