Written answers

Wednesday, 24 March 2021

Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

Child Protection

Photo of Claire KerraneClaire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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1092. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 634 of 10 March 2021, if specific consideration has been given to Article 33 of the report regarding the right to identity; his plans to implement these recommendations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15313/21]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I would like to reiterate my commitment towards the realisation of children’s rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Given the cross-cutting nature of the recommendations contained in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2016, the full list was shared with all Government Departments for their consideration. This applies to the observation referenced by the Deputy.  As previously advised, my department is co-ordinating the preparation of the new State Report and that will include an assessment of the progress made since 2016 when the State last appeared before the UN Committee.

The recommendation referred to by the Deputy concerns certain issues that relate to a child’s right to identity. I would like to take this opportunity to point out some important developments in this area.

A child whose parents are not married may acquire a family name in a number of ways. Parents may choose one parent's surname or both parents’ surnames. Under the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014 when registering the birth of a child in a father’s absence, the Registrar can contact the father to invite him to attend the Registrar’s Office within 28 days to complete the registration.  The father’s name is omitted only in exceptional circumstances.  This new provision remains to be commenced pending minor technical amendments. 

In addition, Section 97 of the Children and Family Relationships 2015, which was commenced  on 6th October 2019, provides that upon registering the birth of the child, unmarried parents have the option to sign a Statutory Declaration at the Civil Registration Office and the Registrar is empowered to witness this declaration.  Previously this declaration had to be witnessed by a solicitor or a Commissioner for Oaths.  

There are currently a number of measures in place to facilitate the registration of a father on a child’s birth certificate in Ireland including situations where parents are unmarried and not cohabiting. A child’s surname can be changed if the parents marry following its birth and the birth father’s name can be recorded on the birth certificate if the mother is married to someone other than the biological father.

Further, I would like to highlight that a review of how children’s rights and best interests can be protected in the context of the recognition of parentage in cases of assisted human reproduction and surrogacy is a commitment in the Programme for Government ‘Our Shared Future’. Professor Conor O’Mahony, Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, was tasked with completing a review of children’s rights and best interests in the context of parentage in cases of donor-assisted human reproduction, including surrogacy, as a priority project in June 2020 by the then Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. The project was assigned following a request from the Department of Health and consultation with relevant Departments.

The Special Rapporteur submitted his report in mid-December. I am currently making preparations to bring the report to Government to seek approval to publish and lay it before the Houses of the Oireachtas. It will subsequently be published on my Department’s website. The issues involved cross the remit of a number of Government Departments. The Special Rapporteur’s report and recommendations will feed into the policy considerations of the Departments concerned.

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