Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House today. Fianna Fáil supports this Bill. As the Minister of State mentioned, it provides for amendments to the Civil Registration Act 2004, as amended, to provide for online registration of births and stillbirths and faster notification of births and stillbirths by medical practitioners and institutions. It also provides for the revision to the criteria determining stillbirths. I pay credit to our former colleague Regina Doherty because changing the criteria for stillbirths is something she has been championing for a long time. The criteria were very unfair to families. It is heartbreaking for families when it is not possible to register a child born before 23 weeks. The provision is very welcome.

The legislation will broaden access to the stillbirth register and create a new record of stillbirths, which is very welcome. The Bill represents a revision to the registration of deaths to enable faster notification and registration and makes changes where deaths are referred to a coroner. It provides for the online notification and registration of deaths and allows the Department of Health to share information with the National Donor-Conceived Person Register, which marries with other legislation on assisted human reproduction. It makes related provisions for corrections or amendments to registrations. It addresses the need to rectify conflicting insertions of section 2(2)(g), relating to marriages and marriages of convenience, into the Civil Registration Act 2004. It amends the Civil Registration Act to allow the registration online of a stillbirth or death to have legal validity equal to that of a registration in person made according to the current provisions. It amends the text of the Civil Registration Act to enable the registration of fathers in certain circumstances and it allows an tArd-Chláraitheoir to issue guidance to superintendents.

We gather today to discuss this legislation to deal with how we handle civil registration. It is a significant step in modernising and ensuring efficiency and accuracy in our registration process. It shows that we are innovative. It is not just a matter of convenience but also of ensuring diligence and factual accuracy. During the Covid pandemic, we saw that people were not able to register deaths, births and marriages, but this legislation will rectify that if such a pandemic happens again.

The implementation of this legislation will have many advantages. It is vital legislation that will greatly modernise our registration system and deliver a proper service that the people of Ireland are very much calling for. I commend the Bill to the House.