Sharon Keogan presses for commencement of Section 6

The Minister, you are very welcome. I want to congratulate you on your ministerial role and wish you every good wish for the many years ahead. Thank you for joining me this morning on the commencement matter in question on the continued non-commencement of Section 6 of the Civil Registration Amendment Act 2014. We were previously told that the legislation had not been commenced due to the needed correction of a technical error in the legislation. However, following the correction of this error in 2024, we were told that the further engagement was still needed with the HSE on the operational readiness necessary prior to the commencement and that the then Minister Humphreys was pleased to inform us that the officials in the General Register Office are engaging with the Superintendent Registrars in the HSE in this regard. This is what we heard from the Government in November of 2024. Can we please receive an update on the progress made in the four months since then and on this engagement with the HSE Superintendent Registrars? In addition, can we receive a timeline from the Government on when they plan to commence this legislation? If this engagement has raised additional steps that still need to be fulfilled before commencement, can we have these steps listed and outlined along with the order in which they need to be fulfilled? This legislation has been delayed for a decade at this stage. I feel obligated to remind the Government that this delay has had and has continued to have a real human cost. For 10 years this delay has prevented unmarried fathers from having their names recorded on birth certificates, affecting their legal rights and their children's ability to trace their lineage. This House agreed over 10 years ago that this change in the legislation was the right and necessary thing to do for unmarried parents. Therefore, the extent in delaying its commencement is frankly baffling. I would like to underscore to the Government that this issue extends beyond a minor exceptional demographic within our society. Over the past decade, the proportion of children born to unmarried parents has increased significantly from 37.2% in 2014 to 43.2% in 2022. It is imperative that this legislation be initiated with the utmost urgency. I extend my support for all Governmental efforts aimed at expediting this process. Thank you, Gerlach. I thank Senator Kilgan for your good wishes and also for bringing this issue to my attention. I know that you raised it previously with former Minister Humphreys. For the other senators, the background to this is that the Civil Registration Amendment Act 2014 principally amends and extends the Civil Registration Act 2004. The Act was signed into law on the 4th of December 2014. The Act contains 36 sections that are in the main, all subject to commencement orders. The statutory will be aware that the sections referring to the law relating to marriages, contained under part 6 of the Civil Registration Act 2004, were commenced in 2015. These sections primarily refer to marriages of convenience cases. Other sections have been commenced in 2016 and in 2020. Section 6 of the Civil Registration Amendment Act 2014, referred to by Senator Kilgan, introduces new provisions relating to the registration of the father where the parents were not married to one another. This section sets out that the mother, if she tends a loan, is required to name the father of the child, with exceptions applying. Registration of the father would then be dependent on the man acknowledging paternity of the child. Commencement of these provisions were subject to proprietary work and the training of registrars by the HSE and the General Registrar Office, the GRO. That training was delivered in early 2020. However, prior to commencement of the provisions of the provisions in 2020, a technical error was discovered in the relevant amending legislation. This technical error was corrected in the recently enacted Civil Registration Electronic Registration Act 2024. This Act was signed by the Utheron in July 2024. This will now facilitate the commencement of Section 6, as has been referred to by Senator Kilgan. Senator, we will appreciate, given the passage of time since the training related to this provision was originally delivered, and given the outbreak of the pandemic, the turnover in HSE registration staff, further engagement with the HSE was required to ensure operational readiness prior to commencing the legislation. However, associated with an industrial relations issue within the HSE, staff and the registration service were not cooperating with the rollout of the training required for the implementation of Section 6. It is the understanding of the Department that the issues surrounding the implementation of Section 6 are resolved, and my officials in the General Registrar Office are now engaging with the HSE and Superintendent Registrars to seek to arrange for the delivery of the required training at the earliest opportunity. Commencement of Section 6 will happen as soon as this training is completed. I anticipate that that will take place for the end of Q2 of this year, but I will continue to keep Senator Kilgan updated and to engage with her on this issue, and I thank her for drawing my attention to it. Thank you, Minister. I think a lot of fathers in this country have been waiting for this legislation for a very, very long time. I know it is an issue now with regard to training. This is, I think, my fourth or fifth time to bring this piece, this commensal matter, before the various Ministers over the last number of years. I will be keeping an eye on this and if you can give me some feedback on that training and when it will commence and when fathers will be able to actually get their names on the birth certs, that would be most helpful to me and to a lot of fathers around this country. I will continue to keep you updated on the speed, but I would like to reassure you that the amount of birth registrations that do not contain a father's name is still very low, but it is our view as the government that, where possible, all children should have the right to know the details of both their parents. However, in that context, I would also remind you, Senator, that a new section will allow for circumstances whereby the mother can provide a statutory declaration to the registrar if she is not able to provide the name of the father, which provides a welcome safeguard to the mother, provides a mechanism whereby the registrar or the superintendent registrar has oversight of the implementation of this provision. The commencement of section 6 will also complete the commencement of all the sections of the Civil Registration Act 2014 in relation to the registration and the re-registration of births. Together with the Civil Registration Electronic Registration Act, its commencement and its operational will provide for a modern, efficient Civil Registration service. However, Senator, I will give you a guarantee that I will keep an eye on this, and I know that you will be watching it. thumbs up, please. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Honestly. I have a�? I am going to the narration less than once. Thank you. No. From the longer term, you got made in prison. I was gonna go out and mine, well... Before you read, how close the transcript. I am was talking my days. Thank you. Thank you so much for agreeing. Messopy I am working feet. We work together with my head. He came forward to my Flat 12 hour, allocated when I got to the'Mes posterior as he started a firewall and sent. It seems like marijuana. 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