Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 75:

In page 44, before line 1, to insert the following:“Central Register for Statutory Declarations for Joint Guardianship

6C.The Minister shall cause to be established and maintained a register to be known as the Central Register for Statutory Declarations for Joint Guardianship, the purpose of which is to provide protection for the statutory declaration documents which grant guardianship rights to unmarried fathers in respect of their children.”.

This is a about what we discussed on Committee Stage. We are calling on the Minister to establish and maintain a register to be known as the central register for statutory declarations for joint guardianship, the purpose of which is to provide protection for the statutory declaration documents which grant guardianship rights to unmarried fathers in respect of their children.

We also call on the Minister to establish and maintain a register to be known as the national register of joint guardianship statutory agreements and for the Minister shall make an entry in the register in respect of each joint guardianship agreement issued. The Minister may prescribe the manner in which the joint guardianship agreements referred to are recorded and the register of joint guardianship agreements shall also record registration of guardianship for fathers who meet the cohabitation criteria.

As we discussed previously, there is not a central register for such documents, meaning that if a document is mislaid, then the father has no proof of his guardianship. We outlined the reasons for this on Committee Stage but did not see amendments forthcoming from the Government and that is why we resubmitted these amendments.