Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Warfield for raising this matter. As he has already outlined, certain sections in Part 9 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 provide for the registration and re-registration of the birth of a donor-conceived child and, in particular, make possible the registration of details of “parent”, as well as “mother’ and “father”, where required. The current position is that these sections need to be amended to correct technical errors and have yet to be commenced. Our intention is to correct these technical errors by means of Committee Stage amendments to the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017, which the Minister hopes to see taken early in the new year.

Commencement of these provisions is also dependent on commencement of Parts 2 and 3 of the Act, which is the responsibility of the Minister for Health. In this regard, the Children and Family Relationships (Amendment) Bill 2018 was enacted on 24 July 2018. It was introduced to correct typographical and technical errors in the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, which will facilitate the subsequent commencement of Parts 2 and 3 of the Act. There are important administrative and operational arrangements to be put in place to facilitate the implementation of Parts 2 and 3, including the establishment of the national donor-conceived person register and the appointment of authorised persons under the Act. I know that it is Minister for Health’s intention that Parts 2 and 3 of the Act will be commenced as soon as possible.

In order to progress this, officials from the General Register Office, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and the Department of Health are working together to ensure that the appropriate legislative, regulatory and operational mechanisms are in place to allow for the earliest possible commencement of all of the relevant legislation that will allow for birth registration of donor-conceived children.On the specific question posed by Senator Warfield about introducing a stand-alone Bill, the intention is to include the legislation in the list of Committee Stage amendments to the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017, which is expected to progress early in the new year to allow for a prompt commencement following enactment. In the circumstances of the anticipated early conclusion of that legislation, it is not considered necessary to introduce a stand-alone Bill. Given the 2017 Bill has passed some Stages of the legislative programme, continuing to progress the measures as part of that Bill is seen as the most efficient way to proceed.