Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I am addressing cases where parents are not married. I thought I was being helpful to the Minister and I will try again. Section 22(1) as currently drafted states:

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 10 months before such birth shall not be required to give information under this Act about the birth.

My amendment proposes to delete "The father of a child" and substitute "A man" so the section would state:

A man 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 10 months before such birth shall not be required to give information under this Act about the birth.

While I believe this clarifies the section, there could be some difficulties as has been pointed out by the noises off-stage. We need clarity on this matter. Regardless of whether this amendment is agreed, the big issue, as pointed out on Committee Stage, is the opt out clause. Following the enactment of this Bill, we need to send a positive signal to unmarried parents that fathers should have their names registered on birth certificates. While the vast majority of fathers do so, it is nowhere near 100%, which should be achievable.

Articles 8.1 and 8.2 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child indicate we have entered clear international commitments to do what we can to ensure that children born outside wedlock know their parents and particularly their fathers. I would hate to see some men use this section as an opt out clause. While I know the Minister is of the same mind, I ask her to reply to my helpful amendment, which I thought would clear up the matter before the experts loaded in their advice. We must listen to them also.