Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 179: To ask the Minister for Social Protection under which legislation could a birth certificate be amended in 1962 in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 1. [12484/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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A birth certificate would have been amended in 1962 under the provisions of section 27 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Ireland), 1880 and under the Regulations for the Discharge of the Duties of Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Ireland (1880 - regulations 168 – 171)

Under these provisions and regulations birth entries were amended, on the authority of a Superintendent Registrar, in order to correct factual errors. Amendments were made following the production to a registrar of one or more statutory declarations from persons required to give information under the Act. This information would then have been entered in marginal notes, which were made in the original entries as part of the amendment process at the time.

Following the amendment of the original entries, the amended entries became the only valid entries in relation to the births, under the statutory provisions, and the original entries could not be issued as certified copies. In the case of the person (details supplied), documentation in relation to the amendment, such as the statutory declaration referred to above, cannot be located by the Registrar General. As such, it can only be presumed that amendment was carried out by the registrar in accordance with the statutory provisions in force at the time and subject to the production of satisfactory evidence in support of the statutory declaration that was the basis of the application for the amendment.

There is a legal principle which states that official acts enjoy the presumption of correctness, unless they can be shown to be incorrect. This is notwithstanding the fact that records or documents relating to the act cannot be located. In the case of the entry at issue here, the legal presumption of correctness stands, unless evidence can be produced that it is incorrect. The person (details supplied) has been in direct contact with the office of the Registrar General and has been informed of the position as outlined above.