Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment. I tabled an amendment with the same intent. I feel strongly about this area and I welcome the amendments the Minister introduced on Report Stage, including the new section 97. It was an issue several of us, including Senator Power and I, brought up when we met the Minister in the consultation about the Bill, so I recognise that she was going some way to try to address our concerns.

This whole area of law is blighted by lack of awareness and understanding among unmarried mothers and fathers about the legal ramifications, rights and responsibilities flowing from the birth of their child. Section 97 will act as an important signpost and mechanism to raise awareness. However, in practice, I fear the new provisions lack the teeth in the absence of a national central register for guardianship agreements. The statutory declaration may go missing. All of us at some time have lost a vital document, whether a passport or a driving licence, and that is without any fractious period of time in our lives, such as the end of a relationship.

I welcome that the Bill provides for a national donor conceived persons register to safeguard the child's right to identity. I would like to see a national register of joint guardianship statutory agreements to ensure the rights of the child to have a meaningful relationship with both parents and to uphold the father's right to family and private life under Article 8 of the European Court of Human Rights, which is recognised in a number of European Court of Human Rights cases as existing between a man and his minor child. Even where there is no evidence that the man ever cohabited with the child's mother, parental rights should be enjoyed. The law should presume that the majority of unmarried parents are reasonable, responsible and law-abiding citizens and where they are not, this should be addressed through relevant legislation.

In preparing this amendment, I asked Treoir if, when working with unmarried fathers, the loss or the withholding of a statutory declaration was an issue. I stress that because there are many cases where the partner will have the statutory declaration.I will forward these cases to the Minister because they are real cases that have happened in recent months, where a spouse has gone to another country with the statutory declaration which means the father cannot go to court or seek redress because he does not have this one piece of paper. There are also cases where the mother is on holidays, the relationship is good, the child has an accident and needs dental surgery and the dental hospital asks for a copy of the statutory declaration but the father does not have it. The father then cannot prove he is the father of the child. Even when there is a good relationship events can happen so it would be very important to have a central register.

It is a very significant document. I understood the Minister’s point on Committee Stage about putting in a compulsion but it is more important to make it compulsory to hold these documents centrally. We have all lost vital documents and that is without fractious break-ups in our lives. From a children’s rights perspective this is very important. We can have a database for every square inch of land in the country and I would like to ensure we have one for statutory declarations to ensure that if necessary a father can have his rights upheld and that it does not depend on one piece of paper. I misplace pieces of paper and I am sure we all do at times.