Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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326. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider the mandatory paternity testing for registration of fathers on birth certificates; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32016/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2014, which was published on 10 July 2014 and passed Second Stage in Seanad Eireann on 15 July, provides that in the case of a non-marital birth it is the duty of both parents to give particulars in relation to the birth of a child.

At present, current legislation does not require the mother or the father to provide the father’s details when registering the birth where the parents of a child are not married to each other.

Where a father attends with the mother to register the birth the legislation allows that he makes a statutory declaration stating that he is the father of the child and his details are included in the birth record.

In the case of a married couple current legislation allows for the mother’s spouse to be registered as the father of a child.

The Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill amends the current legislation to make it compulsory for the registration of the father’s particulars where the parents are not married to each other. Where the mother of the child in a non-marital birth attends alone to register the birth she is required to provide contact details for the father and the registrar will make all reasonable efforts to contact the father.

The Bill further provides that a mother may make a statutory declaration stating clearly that there are compelling reasons to exempt her from her duty to provide details of the father. The registrar shall examine the evidence presented in the declaration and if satisfied that a compelling reason exists, register the birth without father’s details.

The fundamental objective of the provision is to ensure that a father’s details are included in the record of the child’s birth. This will underpin the rights of the child under EU legislation to have access to the details of their identity.

It is not intended to introduce mandatory paternity testing for registration of on birth certificates.