Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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This Commencement matter is on the non-commencement of section 6 of the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014. This Act was passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas on 27 November 2014, and was signed into law on 4 December 2014. As per section 1(3) of the Act, the Minister must commence certain sections. This last happened in 2020 with SI 550 of that year, which commenced sections 5, 7, 8 and 9. This was brought to my attention by the assistant registrar general of the Department in October 2023, when I raised this Commencement matter at that time. Today, I am forced to raise it again. I was misled by a contradiction of the Irish Statute Book's website regarding the commencement of these sections.

Section 6 of the Act has not yet been commenced. It has been nearly 4,000 days and the commencement order has not been given. I have submitted a Commencement matter on this matter for a second time in order for us to hear why this is the case. This section relates to the registrations of births and the naming of the children's parents on documents in cases where the parents are not married. It provides that it is a duty of both parents to comply with the registration of the birth of the child, notwithstanding that they are not married to each other. Where the mother of the child attends alone, she must provide information as to the father's name and contact details. Where the mother furnishes evidence and a statutory declaration that her spouse is not the father of the child, the registrar must make responsible efforts to contact the spouse. Where parents fail to agree on the surname to be registered, the registrar may complete the registration by leaving the surname field blank, or, where a surname is already registered, leaving the surname in place. These are practical and common-sense provisions that were debated and voted in favour of ten years ago. They will also allow people in the future to be able to trace their lineage back, more importantly to get in contact with the estranged family if they wish to do so, and engender greater certainty in the birth registration system.

I understand that the amending Bill is being drafted by the Department to correct a technical issue in section 6, causing it to reference subsection (1)(a) instead of subsection (1). If this assists in getting this section commenced, it is a welcome move. Why has it taken so long? I understand that the legislative drafting measure is necessary. It is an exceedingly exact science that cannot be rushed, but ten years seems an awfully long time to wait for the commencement of any legislation.

When I last raised this matter in 2023, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, stated:

... prior to commencement, a technical error was discovered in the relevant amending legislation. This technical error is required to be corrected and this will be achieved in the forthcoming civil registration (electronic registration) Bill, which, as the Senator will be aware, was considered in pre-legislative scrutiny and approved for drafting by the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development, and the Islands.

The Minister of State continued:

The Bill is currently with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and is at [the] advanced stage[s] of drafting. [That was in October 2023.] The Minister, Deputy ... [Harris], looks forward to bringing the Bill to the Oireachtas shortly.

The Minister of State added:

Given the passage of time since the training was delivered and the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, further engagement with the HSE will be needed to ensure operational readiness prior to commencement.

I hope the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, might be able to shed some light on the matter, particularly whether additional steps have been taken in the meantime.

Pippa Hackett (Green Party)
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I am here on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection, who thanks the Senator for raising the issue again.

The Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014 principally, as the Senator said, amends and extends the Civil Registration Act 2004. The Act was signed into law on 4 December 2014. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, previously outlined to the Senator the sections referring to the law relating to marriages contained under Part 6 of the Civil Registration Act 2004 were commenced in 2015 and these sections primarily referred to marriages of convenience cases. Other sections have been commenced in 2016 and 2020. Sections 6 to 9 of the Act referred to by Senator Keogan are related to the requirements under Part 3 of the Civil Registration Act 2004 to the registration and re-registration of births. The Senator will know that sections 7, 8 and 9 of the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act were commenced on 20 November 2020.

Sections 7 and 8 substituted existing legislation concerning the re-registration of births. The new sections permit a birth to be re-registered in circumstances where the mother was not married to the father, amends some of the regulations around acceptance of court orders and provides a new system of rebuttal of paternity in cases where a married mother requests a registrar to re-register a birth with a father who is not her husband. Section 9 introduces a mechanism around registering a birth where there is a failure between the mother and father to agree a surname for the child.The only section referred to that has not been commenced is section 6. Section 6 of the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014 introduces new provisions relating to the registration of the father where the parents are not married to one another. This section sets out that the mother, if she attends alone, is required to name the father of the child with limited exceptions applying. Registration of the father will then be dependent on the man acknowledging paternity of the child.

Commencement of these provisions was subject to the HSE arranging dates and venues for the delivery of training to registrars and this training was delivered in early 2020. It is true that prior to commencement at that stage a technical error was discovered in the relevant amending legislation. This technical error was corrected in the recently enacted Civil Registration (Electronic Registration) Act 2024 and the Act was signed by the President in July of this year. This will now facilitate the commencement of section 6. Further engagement, however, is still needed with the HSE on the operational readiness necessary prior to the commence but the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is pleased to inform the Senator that officials in the General Register Office are engaging with the superintendent registrars in the HSE in this regard. Department officials are happy to engage further with Senator Keogan on this matter.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State. I realise much of this response is what I received the last time. While I welcome that the technical error has been corrected with the Civil Registration (Electronic Registration) Act 2024, it still has not moved forward during that year. We knew there would be an issue regarding the HSE in getting this matter dealt with in regards to training. One year later, we are still nowhere. I really want this to move forward. Many fathers out there have been deprived of having their names on birth certificates, and of their rights as fathers throughout this country. It is important this legislation is dealt with as quickly as possible so fathers have certainty with regard to their rights to their children.

Pippa Hackett (Green Party)
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I thank the Senator for her acknowledgement that some progress has been made and that the technical error has been corrected. I will relay her continued concerns about this matter. The commencement of section 6 will provide an opportunity for all fathers' names to be recorded in the register of births and I will follow up with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, after this Commencement matter to see if we can hasten the training needed for the HSE registrars.