Longford parents can register baby births on new online facility

Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty has announced that the General Register Office has put in place arrangements for parents to register electronically the birth of their newborn babies as a solution to challenges arising from the current Covid-19 pandemic.

Up to now, parents could only register the births of their children by visiting a General Register Office in person which has been in place since 1864 when the first birth was registered.

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.

Welcoming this new development in the midst of the pandemic crisis, Minister Doherty stated:

“As many parents have consciously decided not to register the birth of their new arrival to their families during the pandemic because of the social distancing requirements, we estimate that there may be up to 4,000 births not yet registered.  This also means that payment of Child Benefit will not commence until the birth is registered. That is why my Department has worked to put an alternative channel into place so that all families can register their new-borns easily and avail of their child benefit entitlements.

“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.”

Mr TJ Fleming, the Registrar General said: “The social distancing requirements currently in place as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic highlight the usefulness of the electronic registration process.  We will keep this process under review to ensure it meets our customers’ needs. The process is designed to be as simple and straightforward as possible.”

A centralised email address has been provided by the Department.

The registration form and more details are available here.