P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will review the anomaly which requires adopted persons to apply to Roscommon for a birth certificate while others obtain a birth certificate at Joyce House, Dublin as in the case of person (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25415/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I have made enquiries of an tArd-Chlaráitheoir regarding the matter raised by the Deputy and the position is as set out below.

The provisions governing the registration of domestic adoptions and the issue of birth certificates drawn from the register of adoptions are set out in section 22 of the Adoption Act, 1952. Under these provisions, the Registrar General is charged with maintaining an Adopted Children Register and also to keep an index to make traceable the connexion between each entry and the corresponding entry in the register of births. The index is not open to public inspection and no information from it may be given to any person except by order of a Court or of the Adoption Board. A certified copy of an entry in the Adopted Children Register, if purporting to be issued under the seal of Oifig an Ard-Chlaraitheora, shall, without further proof, be received as evidence of the facts stated therein and any requirement of law for the production of a certificate of birth shall be satisfied by the production of such certified copy.

Under the above provisions, birth certificates for adopted persons are available only from the Office of the Registrar General. While it is appreciated that this may cause a degree of inconvenience in certain instances, the security and confidentiality of the Adopted Children Register is of paramount importance and it is for this reason only that the restriction on availability exists. For this reason also, there are no plans to amend the legislation to change the current arrangements in relation to this matter.