Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her plans to use the impending Social Welfare Bill to change legislation to provide for the compulsory registration of fathers on birth certificates. [8921/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The current position in relation to birth registrations is that no man who is not married to the mother can be named as the father of a child in an entry unless he consents, or unless he is found to be the father of the child by the Courts in proceedings relating to guardianship or maintenance, or by way of a declaration of parentage, made under section 35 of the Status of Children Act 1987.

Under the provisions of the Civil Registration Act 2004, where the parents are not married to each other at the time of the birth, the father's particulars can be registered if the parents make a joint application to do so, or if either makes an application, accompanied by a statutory declaration from the other parent, naming the father, or if either parent makes an application accompanied by a court order naming the father.

Where a father's details are not registered initially, the parents may re-register the birth to add his details. The procedures for such re-registrations are similar to those for registrations. Also, if the parents marry each other following the birth, they are legally obliged to re-register the birth, under the provisions of section 24 of the Act.

The Houses of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs has recommended that it should be made compulsory for the father's name to be registered on a child's birth certificate (First Report – October 2009).

The Law Reform Commission (LRC) issued a discussion document in September 2009 on legal aspects of family relationships, which included the issue of the registration of the father's particulars. They have invited submissions from interested parties and will issue recommendations in a further report. This report is expected to issue by late summer of this year. Any recommendation in relation to the compulsory registration of the father's details on a birth record will be of considerable significance and will be seriously considered in the context of future amendments to the Civil Registration Act 2004.