Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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442. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there are plans for a review of the legal requirements for mothers registering the birth of her child with a new partner, where the mother is still married to a previous partner due to delays in divorce proceedings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8524/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The requirements for birth registration are set out in Part 3 of the Civil Registration Act 2004, and are underpinned by Section 46 of the Status of Children Act 1987 which sets out that the husband of a marriage is presumed to be the father of the child where the mother is or was married at any time during the 10 months immediately preceding the birth.

For those mothers who have not obtained a divorce or deed of separation and who wish to register a man other than their husband as father of their child, they are required to submit a statutory declaration from their husband that he is not the father of the child. Alternatively, the mother or father may submit a court order made in proceedings referred to in Section 45 of the Status of Children Act 1987 which names the father of the child to be used as evidence of paternity.

Section 6 of the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014 extended the method of rebuttal of the presumption of the husband's paternity for those mothers who have not divorced or separated from their husband. This Section is yet to be commenced, but provides that a married mother may submit a declaration that she has been living apart from their husband for at least 10 months prior to a birth along with such evidence which the registrar considers sufficient for the purposes of rebutting the husband's paternity. This Section is due to be commenced later in 2023 together with other legislative changes and enhancements in respect of civil registration.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.