Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2014: Second Stage with Tanaiste Burton's response.

Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2014: Second Stage (Tuesday, 15 July 2014)Senator Ivana Bacik and Tanaiste Joan Burton's response.

I welcome the Minister as Tánaiste. This is my first opportunity to do so and I welcome her appointment. I also welcome the Bill and I thank the Minister for starting it in the Seanad. It is a Bill that will benefit from the detailed scrutiny we will give it in the Seanad on Committee Stage. We always appreciate when Ministers initiate Bills in the Seanad. The Bill is about modernising the civil registration service and updating the 2004 Act, which was the major codifying civil registration law. Other Members spoke about significant amendments provided for in the Bill. I thank the Minister for accepting my amending Bill to the Civil Registration Act, which has enabled the Humanist Association of Ireland to conduct legal wedding ceremonies. It has made a huge difference to many couples. I welcome the commitment of the Minister in her speech on Second Stage to introduce an amendment to the Bill on Committee Stage to confirm the legality of conducting weddings out of doors once they conform to the rules on public places. The Humanist Association of Ireland had issues about this and I made representations to the Minister on this point. I am glad the matter has been resolved but it would be good to have an amendment that clarifies it and puts it beyond doubt.

Senators Moloney and van Turnhout referred to child marriage and the motion proposed by Labour Party Senators on 25 June, which was seconded by Senator van Turnhout in a cross-party initiative. The Private Members' motion asked the Government to consider removing or amending the statutory provision allowing minors to marry on the basis of a court exemption. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, dealt with the matter but we are glad the Government committed, on foot of the motion, to setting up an interdepartmental working group with officials from the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Justice and Equality on how best to deal with the issue. The issue concerns section 31 of the Family Law Act 1995, which provides the minimum legal age at which people can get married as 18 years, but section 33 of the Act allows a couple to apply to the court for an exemption to the rule where one or both are aged under 18 years. Section 2(2) of the Civil Registration Act 2004 maintains the facility to apply for this exemption. The new Bill is about amending the Civil Registration Act and it might be appropriate to examine changing the law on child marriage in an amendment to this Bill. The Government has accepted the Labour Party motion and will be examining the matter. We were very concerned about children being coerced into entering marriage and many of us were shocked at the figures produced by the Minister for Justice and Equality on the number of couples applying for exemptions and the number of people marrying who are under 18 years. It deserves a review.

Response from

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection (Deputy Joan Burton):I thank all the Senators who contributed to this very interesting debate. The Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2014 is the second of three that I intend to introduce to modernise the civil registration services. In December 2012 in this House, we began a discussion on the Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2012. The legislation was commenced in January 2013 and it added secular bodies to the register of solemnisers. I thank Senator Bacik for her comments on that. A considerable amount of the work was done in this House. The secular bodies were added to the register solemnisers, extending the scope of marriage solemnisers across the spectrum of belief systems. I am aware that very many people have availed themselves of that facility since it came into existence. I am glad to have advised the Senators of an amendment we will bring forward to deal with the issue of marriages being held in the open air.
On 17 June 2014, I published the general scheme of the Gender Recognition Bill 2014. This Bill will provide transgender persons with legal recognition. The Bill is currently being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and I hope to publish it later this year.
The Bill before the Senators today contains significant new policy provisions, such as the inclusion of the fathers' names on birth certificates for non-marital births and measures to combat marriages of convenience.
With regard to the compulsory registration of fathers' names, it is worth repeating that, according to figures from the General Register Office, 2,675 non-marital births were registered in 2013 without the father's name. In the vast majority of cases, both parents want to register both the mother and the father but there is still a very significant number of cases in which this does not occur. As Members have said, this matter could be extremely important to the child and the descendants of the child. Current legislation does not require the mother or the father to provide the father's details when registering the birth where the parents of a child are not married to each other. Where registration is facilitated very soon after birth, as it often is, those involved in helping at the birth or in another professional capacity and those involved in antenatal classes should be advised that this will be the expected norm. As far as I am aware, it is the norm almost everywhere except in Ireland, save in some exceptional cases to which Senators made reference.
This amendment seeks to address the current position by making the provision of information such as the father's name compulsory other than in exceptional circumstances, such as where the mother does not know who the father is or the whereabouts of the father.
The key, as mentioned by quite a number of Senators, is the right of children to know who their parents are. This amendment will underpin the rights of the child under EU legislation to have access to the details of their identity. Registering the name of the father and the birth certificate actually does not confer any additional rights, per se, on the father of the child, but it may well lead to a cultural change over time such that it will become the expected practice, as it is in most European countries. With regard to the registration of the father's name, the key point is to understand that the exceptions are in regard to the safety of the child and the child's best interests. Obviously, there are issues that arise in this regard, some of which were alluded to, and they have to be taken into account.
Many Senators mentioned marriages of convenience. This is a very complex issue. The right to marry is a basic right. EU citizens and their families had the right to reside and move freely within the territories of the member states. These rights also apply to non-EU-national spouses of EU nationals. Ireland, as a society, has greatly benefited from the free movement of EU citizens across Europe. However, criminal elements are abusing our system by using marriage in Ireland to gain an automatic right of residency in Europe.
Let me outline what constitutes a marriage of convenience. It is a very unusual set of circumstances. Obviously, the vast majority of marriages are by consent and they occur in a public place, usually involving families and many witnesses. A marriage of convenience, however, is defined under section 3 of the legislation as being where one of the parties enters into the marriage solely for the purpose of securing an immigration advantage. This must be properly investigated and reported on by a registrar. It must be determined by a superintendent registrar. In forming his opinion, the registrar must take into account such matters as whether the parties speak a common language. If the two parties have no language in common, I suggest it may not be the best basis for a marriage. The question of how often the parties met before the marriage must also be considered. We have heard stories of where parties apparently met a couple of minutes before getting married. They do not share a language and have no apparent knowledge of or familiarity with each other.
Most important, it must be considered whether money has been paid in an inducement to marry. Senator Bacik and Senator van Turnhout talked about young people marrying in this regard. If significant amounts of money change hands, one must be wary. A young woman, who might not be under age or a child, might be very persuaded to get married for the purpose of gaining a very large cash advantage. Others might persuade her or have some control over her. This is absolutely illegal. Nothing very good transpires for the women who get involved in such arrangements. It is of serious concern, not only to Ireland but also to countries that have embassies here that may believe this type of action is happening. One should bear in mind that an experienced registrar must form an opinion on whether the couple does not appear to know each other or speak the same language. It may appear that inducements have passed between the parties.

I do not quite know what Senator Ó Clochartaigh was suggesting but the provision does not seek to curtail the free movement of individuals under EU law nor prevent valid marriages from taking place between people of whatever nationality. That is not the purpose. The purpose is to deal with situations where there is a marriage of convenience, in other words, it is a sham and entirely for the purpose of securing an immigration advantage. It is a provision designed to put in place safeguards to stop people using the pretence of getting married solely to gain an immigration advantage and, in the process, make a mockery of the institution of marriage which is protected in our Constitution.

As in the case of other objections to marriage, the couple can appeal to the Circuit Court, the Family Court, if they do not agree with the decision made. There is a remedy if people feel the marriage has been unfairly refused. It is a matter which has been of grave concern over a number of years. There is also a concern that this may be parallel or in some cases potentially connected with trafficking where women, particularly younger women, are coerced into taking part in this kind of marriage of convenience.

A number of Senators spoke about access to adoption records. I am on the record on this issue and I thank people for sharing their personal and family histories. This matter is being looked at by my colleague, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, who is working on legislation in this area. I compliment the former Ministers for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, and in particular, in recent times Deputy Flanagan who has done an enormous amount of work on this issue. For those of us who have been involved and interested in this debate over a long number of years, there has been quite a change in public understanding, appreciation and attitudes. That is a very welcome advance as this is a sensitive personal issue for all of the parties involved.

The key issue, which is at the heart of this legislation, is the right of the child to know his or her identity. I look forward to Deputy Reilly following on the very positive work which has been done. He has already commenced that work in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. We in the Department of Social Protection are merely concerned with the regulation of registration.

Senator Bacik and other Senators raised the issue of forced marriages. I thank the Seanad for raising this matter. An interdepartmental group has been set up to look at this matter and the Department of Social Protection is involved. That is a very important issue in the protection of children who could be subject to abuse.

Senator Ó Clochartaigh raised the issue of scrutiny. As the rules regarding the Oireachtas scrutiny were introduced when the Bill was at an advanced stage of drafting it was not brought to the Oireachtas as this would have led to delays in enacting the legislation. When we brought the transgender Bill for scrutiny to the committee, at which some Senators were present, it took seven months to get the report. I am anxious in this regard.

In fairness to the Seanad, there has been a detailed debate on Second Stage alone so I am very confident there will be as much intensive scrutiny and examination which the Senators wish to bring on Committee Stage.

Question put and agreed to.