Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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Question 155: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason the Civil Registration Office has no facility in their Dublin Office for adopted persons to obtain duplicate birth certificates;if this is discrimination; the further reason the Roscommon office insist on communications by fax rather than by e-mail and that payment by laser card is not permitted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25424/09]

Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason, in respect of the General Registry Office, the Dublin Office has no facility for adopted people to obtain duplicate birth certificates there and that the Roscommon office insists on communications being conducted primarily through fax and not e-mail; the further reason payment by laser card is not permitted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25495/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 155 and 156 together.

I have made enquiries of an tÁrd-Chláraitheoir 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 connection 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 Árd-Chláraitheora, 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.

At the moment persons applying to GRO for certificates of life events may do so in writing or by fax. Payments are accepted by Visa or Mastercard. An on-line application facility for records of life events, including adoption events, is at an advanced stage of development and will be introduced shortly. Payments by credit card, including laser card, will be a feature of the on-line service.