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Enacted Dáil
No. 14 of 2015

Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015

Public bill · Government · Presented

The Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015 would update family law to recognise children being raised by unmarried couples, civil partners, same-sex couples, step-parents, relatives and other caregivers. It would set rules for donor-assisted reproduction, recognise a consenting spouse or partner as the child’s second legal parent, create a register allowing donor-conceived people to access information about their donor from age 18, and allow civil partners and long-term cohabiting couples to adopt jointly. It would also widen access to guardianship, custody and maintenance, put children’s best interests first in court, and give children a greater voice in family-law decisions.

Formal long title

Bill entitled an Act to provide for certain matters relating to donor-assisted human reproduction and the parentage of children born as a result of donor-assisted human reproduction procedures; to provide for the establishment and maintenance of a register to be known as the National Donor-Conceived Person Register; to amend and extend the law relating to the guardianship and custody of, and access to, children and for those purposes to amend the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964; to extend the category of persons who may be liable for the maintenance of children and for that purpose to amend the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act 1976, and for that and other purposes to amend the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010; to provide for the use in certain circumstances of DNA testing to determine parentage and for that and other purposes to amend the Status of Children Act 1987; to amend the Family Law Act 1995; to amend the category of persons who may adopt children and for that and other purposes to amend the Adoption Act 2010; to make consequential amendments to the Succession Act 1965, the Civil Registration Act 2004 and other enactments; and to provide for related matters

Last updated 12 April 2018

Sponsor
  • Minister for Justice and Equality Primary
Progress
  • First Stage
    Dáil
  • Second Stage
    Dáil
  • Committee Stage
    Dáil
  • Report Stage
    Dáil
  • Fifth Stage
    Dáil
  • Second Stage
    Seanad
  • Committee Stage
    Seanad
  • Report Stage
    Seanad
  • Fifth Stage
    Seanad Enacted
  • Enacted
    Enacted
Debates
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages
    Seanad
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed)
    Seanad
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage
    Seanad
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage
    Seanad
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Order for Report Stage
    Dáil
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Report Stage
    Dáil
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage
    Dáil
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage
    Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed)
    Dáil
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed)
    Dáil
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Referral to Select Committee
    Dáil
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed)
    Dáil
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed)
    Dáil
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Order for Second Stage
    Dáil
  • Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage
    Dáil

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