Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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922. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there will be legal implications arising from fathers not being able to be added to the birth certificate of their children online in view of the fact they cannot register a birth personally due to Covid-19 restrictions; her plans to allow fathers to register online; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7955/20]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department introduced new measures in the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 to ensure that births could continue to be registered during the Covid-19 Pandemic. These measures removed the necessity for a qualified informant (QI) to sign the register of births and to attend before a registrar in order for a birth to be registered.

The QI can use an application form available on the HSE.ie and GOV.ie websites to provide the registration service with the particulars of the birth as required under the Civil Registration Act 2004, as amended. On receipt of these particulars, the birth is entered in the register of births and a birth certificate can subsequently be provided to the parents. The particulars of both parents can be registered via this process.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.