Ireland

Civil registrations service to be envy of the world

The Government today launched a discussion document outlining its £7

Greg Meylan
Tue May 01 2001 - 01:00

The Government today launched a discussion document outlining its £7.3 million plan to modernise the civil registration process and make it "the envy of all other countries".

Speaking at the launch of the document, "Bringing Civil Registration into the 21st Century", Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs Mr Dermot Ahern said Ireland’s births, marriages and death registration system had remained largely unchanged since 1864.

Quote
I intend that the opportunity that this consultative process offers will sow the seeds from which a Civil Registration Service will grow that will be the envy of all other countries
Unquote
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs Mr Dermot Ahern

The modernisation of the system will see birth certificates stored electronically and available the next day from any office in the country. The Government hopes the new system will be up and running early next year and will save people time and money.

Mr Ahern said under the new system instead of a person having to notify a child’s birth to a whole range of different public bodies one registration would do.

READ MORE

He also said a Public Service Number would be allocated at birth which would allow public bodies to share personal information and cut down on the need for duplication of documents.

"I intend that the opportunity that this consultative process offers will sow the seeds from which a Civil Registration Service will grow that will be the envy of all other countries," Mr Ahern said.

At a press conference to publicise the launch Mr Ahern and Health Minister Mr Michael Martin demonstrated how in the future birth certificates would be completed electronically with signatures signed on a touch-pad.

The key proposals in the Consultation document are:

  • Registrars of Births to be located in maternity hospitals to allow easier registration.
  • Marriage notification/registration may be completed at any Registrar's office.
  • Registration may be completed by post.
  • Certificate to be provided free of charge where the event is registered within a specified time.
  • Personal Public Service Number to be allocated at birth registration.
  • All adoptions, both national and foreign, to be registered.
  • A central divorce/nullity database to be created.
  • Birth/Death/Marriage certificates to be forwarded electronically to the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs for social welfare purposes e.g. Child Benefit.
  • Certificates to be available at designated locations countrywide.

Mr Martin said in tandem with the modernisation programme a project was currently ongoing in Roscommon to capture and store in electronic format all registration records created since 1845 - about 20 million records in all.

The closing date for submissions is 31st May 2001.