This legislation has not yet commenced – WATCH THIS SPACE!
The Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014 will, once the legislation has been commenced, for the first time in Ireland, place a duty on unmarried parents to register the father’s name on the birth certificate of their child. It is a child’s fundamental human right to have the names of both parents on his/her birth certificate.
Following on this new legislation, if a mother attends without the father to register her child’s birth, the Registrar will ask her for contact details of the father. The Registrar will then make “all reasonable efforts” to contact the father and invite him to attend the Registrar’s Office within 28 days in order to complete the registration. Only in exceptional cases, where “compelling reasons” are provided, will the father’s name be omitted.
If parents cannot agree a surname for the child, the birth will be registered but no surname will be assigned to the child until agreement is reached.
Read more in Treoir’s press release
See Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014
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