Donegal parents who were unable to register the birth of their newborns are now being asked to use a new online facility.
Up to now, parents could only register the births of their children by visiting a General Register Office in person. Due to Covid-19 , it is believed that up to 4,000 babies have not been registered in recent months. This also means that parents were missing out on child benefit payments.
The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has introduced arrangements for parents to register electronically the birth of their newborn babies.
A centralised email address has been provided by the Department. The registration form and more details are available here.
Minister Regina Doherty said: “This innovation is further proof of the efforts my Department is making to ensure we help all those we can during what is an unprecedented moment in our nation’s history. I would urge all parents of new babies who have not already registered the birth to consider using this new facility put in place by the General Register Office.”
These arrangements now in place have been adopted by the Civil Registration Service and take into account the HSE and WHO guidelines on social distancing.
The first baby to have his birth registered electronically is Aaron Rafferty from Malahide, County Dublin, whose parents Nuala and Paul registered his birth electronically with the General Register Office.
