Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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370. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when she will update the stillbirth registration process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23895/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Registration of stillbirths by parents in Ireland is voluntary. Currently, the birth of a stillborn child may be registered where the child has a gestational age of 24 weeks or more or weighs 500 grammes or more.

The Government has recently given approval to draft legislation, based on clinical advice from the Department of Health, to reduce these criteria to 23 weeks and 400 grammes respectively. In cases of multiple pregnancies if any child reaches the criteria for stillbirth, then any other children will also be recorded as a stillbirth, provided they each weigh 200 grammes or more.

I am also proposing that legislative changes are made to enable broader access to the Stillbirth Register. Currently, only the parents of a child recorded in the register or an tArd-Chláraitheoir or a member of his or her staff can search the register. The proposed amendments will enable a broader range of staff in the civil registration service to search the Stillbirth Register along with improved access to stillbirth records.

The proposals are being sent to the Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands for pre-legislative scrutiny. I look forward to bringing the legislation to the House once that process is complete.

These are important changes which I hope will help families who have experienced the trauma and sadness of the loss of a stillborn child.

I hope that this is of assistance to the Deputy.