Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It will be at the Seanad's earliest convenience I am sure. My main reason for seeking quick passage of this legislation through the Oireachtas is to expedite commencement of existing legislation that provides for the registration of donor-assisted births. This issue particularly affects female same-sex couples who wish to register the particulars of both partners in the relationship as parents in the register of births. This will allow both of them to have their particulars displayed on birth certificates and will affirm parental rights for each partner in practical day-to-day matters, such as passport applications, school enrolment, interaction with medical practitioners and GPs, and other situations where demonstration of parental relationships may be required. I know many Members of the Oireachtas want to see a speedy resolution to this. We have all met many of the couples affected and I can assure the House that I absolutely want this resolved as quickly as possible. As I stated in the Dáil - it is worth saying again - I am thankful we are living in a changing society, with a more diverse range of family formation than in the relatively recent past. It is important that we reflect this in our laws and how we recognise family units. For my part, I fully intend for civil registration legislation to keep pace with the evolving nature of our society and with how this diversity is provided for in legislation generally. In this way, we can absolutely ensure that we treat all our citizens equally.

The Bill makes progress in achieving this through technical amendments that will facilitate commencement of sections in Part 9 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015. This will make possible registration and re-registration of donor-assisted births that will record the particulars of both parents in a female same-sex relationship. As many Members will be aware, bringing these provisions into operation also depends on commencement of Parts 2 and 3 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, which include provisions for determination of parentage of donor-conceived children. This is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Health, who is working to commence these Parts before the summer recess.

The Bill also amends existing civil registration legislation to bring it into line with current legislation governing presumption of paternity. This will make it less onerous on a woman to rebut the automatic presumption of paternity of her estranged husband in the birth registration process. It is another rights-based issue that I want to see addressed quickly. I want to avoid a position where there is a need for contact with the woman's estranged husband where the separation may have been acrimonious or may even have involved domestic violence.

I will move on now to setting out the provisions of the individual sections of the Bill. Section 1 outlines the definitions of certain terms used throughout the Act. Section 2 amends the definition of the Act of 2015 in section 2 of the Act of 2004. This amendment will facilitate commencement of legislation that provides for registration and re-registration of births of donor-conceived children. Section 3 makes technical amendments to section 19A of the Act of 2004. This will facilitate commencement of legislation that provides for registration of births of donor-conceived children. Section 4 brings civil registration legislation into line with current legislation governing presumption of paternity and makes it less onerous on a mother to rebut automatic presumption of paternity of her husband in the birth registration process. Section 5 makes technical amendments to section 23B of the Act of 2004. This will facilitate commencement of legislation that provides for re-registration of births of donor-conceived children.

Section 6 provides for the inclusion of a family member as a qualified informant in the registration of a death where a coroner is involved. This will allow the family of the deceased to have a greater role in the registration process. This should result in registration of a more complete set of particulars in some cases. Section 7 provides for the inclusion of the forename and birth surname of a "parent", where a person born following donor-assisted human reproduction dies abroad and it is sought to have the death recorded on the record of deaths abroad when that is operationalised. This follows as a consequence to the addition of details of "parent" to the required particulars for registration of a birth.

Section 8 provides that records of births, deaths and marriages may be shared by the General Register Office with a body under the aegis of the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Bringing into operation of these provisions will require extensive consultation between my own officials and their colleagues in that Department. Section 9 provides for the application of fees payable to the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in respect of any performance by that Minister of functions carried out under the provisions amended by section 8 of this Bill. This is a standard provision in most legislation.

Section 10 provides for the inclusion of details of "parent" in the required particulars to register a birth or stillbirth. This will facilitate both partners in a same-sex female relationship to have their particulars registered in the register of births. Registration of particulars of "mother" and "father" will continue to be available. However, any parent may choose to register a birth as "parent" if that is the wish. Section 10 also provides that the country of birth and the country of citizenship of a deceased person are to be added to the particulars of a death to be entered in the register of deaths. This provision, as well as providing a richer source of data in the records of deaths held by the General Register Office, also responds to the State's obligations under the relevant European Union regulation governing provision of statistical data to EUROSTAT by the Central Statistics Office.

Section 11 provides for a technical change to ensure that certain amendments in section 6(1) of the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014 may apply to the registration of births where the birth occurs before the date of commencement of the section and is registered after that date. There were two amendments introduced in Dáil Éireann that have been adopted and are now included in the Bill before us. Section 12 provides that Part 9 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 will come into operation by default on 6 October 2019 if not already commenced before that date. As I have already stated, we are keen as mustard to get this passed and in operation before the summer recess so we can control it. Section 13 makes a technical amendment to section 27(5) of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 to allow the Minister for Health to commence Parts 2 and 3, and to make regulations for a certificate to be given to parents by their fertility clinic. This certificate is required in the birth registration process. As currently enacted, section 27(5) does not make sufficient provision for details of all permitted donor-assisted procedures to be included in the certificate. The amendment will rectify this.

Section 14 provides for the Short Title, construction, collective citation and commencement of the Act.

These amendments are mainly technical in nature but it is important that we progress them quickly. We owe it to those whose lives are affected by these issues in a very real way and have been waiting - exceptionally patiently - for a considerable time to have their concerns addressed. At this stage, we need to allow them to move on and interact with society in a way that the Oireachtas intended in 2015 and in a way that most of us take for granted.

I am aware that other areas of civil registration and other issues broadly relating to provisions contained in this Bill need to be addressed, but these will need to be dealt with separately at a future date because I want to introduce the measures in this Bill as quickly as possible.

I look forward to hearing Senators' views and comments. I thank them for their co-operation.