Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish him well in his new-found position and hope he will succeed in the short time he has left. It is to be hoped he will be one of the Ministers who come to the House who are very receptive to amendments and will use a degree of political discretion and independence in making decisions with regard to some issues.

I welcome the provision that a mother, when she attends alone, must provide information as to the name and contact details of the father, and that that must be included in the birth certificate. There is a provision for exceptional circumstances where this will not apply. I would be interested in hearing some examples from the Minister of State of the type of exceptions he envisages where an application would not include information on the father.

I also note that where the mother furnishes evidence in a statutory declaration that the father is not the father of the child, the registrar is then obliged to contact the father of the child. I come from a disposition where I feel every child has the right to know who his or her mother and father are. It is often the case that only later in life it will become a very important issue for people, and many television programmes now specialise in tracing the parents of children who were adopted or whatever else and did not know who their parents were. It is a step in the right direction.

I can understand why a mother may not wish to have the name of the father on a birth certificate. The mother may have rights but we have to balance them with the rights of the child. Precedence should be given to the rights of the child because, unless the State defends and protects him or her, he or she is not in a position to do it. Is there any provision where a conflict arises as to the rights of a child for DNA evidence to be provided? The Minister of State might comment on that.

I wish to raise an important issue. We now have a lot of debate about surrogacy and similar matters. There has been a practice over quite a number of years in other jurisdictions whereby people, women in particular, have availed of sperm donors. A well-known activist - I understand her name is Joanna Rose - gave talks here and in Britain and has campaigned strenuously for the rights of children conceived through sperm donation to be able to access the names and health records of those who donated sperm in order that they could be born. Her story is illustrative. She spent a considerable number of years trying to track down the sperm donor involved in her conception. Eventually, after great difficulty, she discovered who her father was. It transpired that he was a student who was obviously paid to donate his sperm and to her alarm she discovered she had approximately 300 brothers and sisters. The consequences of this from a societal point of view are considerable. I do not know if the new provision in the registration of births will capture that kind of scenario. I would like to think that it would because it is a major issue.

There was a case in Britain in the past 12 to 18 months where a couple who married subsequently discovered they were brother and sister. Now is the time for us to consider these types of eventualities. I do not know if this Bill has considered encompassing the scope of the issues I have raised, but if it has not, some effort should be made to do so. I am interested in hearing the response of the Minister of State.