Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister requested, I will clarify the position. Amendment No. 32 relates to a situation where someone makes an application to the register of births but no entry is found. Where a relevant body has received an application and does not hold the birth certificate, it will inform the applicant of that fact in writing and without delay. A person being told that there is no record of him or her is significant, and we suggested that this should trigger an investigation in each instance.I had asked that if the Minister felt it would be onerous to trigger it in every instance, could there at least be some mechanism to deal with a pattern. He mentioned there may be some reason like a fire or something, but the Bill does not even require the authority to outline a reason for not having a birth certificate. People are simply told it does not exist. If there are fires, files lost, swathes of records from a particular institution that never filed them properly or whatever, we want those issues to be addressed rather than it being the luck of the draw as to whether someone gets a birth certificate.

At the moment section 4 simply provides that persons are just informed that a body does not hold a birth certificate for them. However, there should be a clear next stage even if it is just information about what they can do next. In addition, if the State sees a pattern of relevant bodies informing a large number of people that they do not hold birth certificates, that should be identified and investigated in some way. As we are on Committee Stage, I am open to suggestions and thoughts the Minister might have. However, he might agree with me that to simply get a letter indicating that there is not a birth certificate should not be the end of that process.