James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 333: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will ensure equality of access to birth certificates for persons who are adopted and in particular that requests for such birth certificates can be made via e-mail and paid for via Laser card; if she will ensure that in the event of a request for a birth certificate for an adopted person in emergency situation, appropriate arrangements are made between the relevant office in Roscommon and the births deaths and marriages office in Joyce House, Dublin 2, for the issue of such birth certificates in a timely manner to applicants who request them at Joyce House; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25729/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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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 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.

At the moment persons applying to GRO for certificates of life events may do so in writing or by fax. Applications for certificates relating to adopted persons, made in Joyce House or in any registration office throughout the country are forwarded to the Office of the Registrar General and are processed as soon as possible. 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.