Preparation

• 1). Determine whether you are a qualified informant. Only qualified informants may sign the Register of Births and provide information regarding the father of a child. Qualified informants include the parents, guardians, any person present during the birth or in the building where the birth took place and designated staff members at the hospital or other birthing establishment.
  
  
• 2). Gather the necessary information about the father. An Irish birth certificate lists information about the father from the Registry of Births. You need the father's name, including any previously used names, date of birth, civil status, occupation, address, mother's maiden name and personal public service number.
  
  
• 3). Pick up the appropriate forms at a Registrar of Births office.
  
  

Forms

• 1). Fill out form CRA 9 if the father and mother go to the Registrar together.
  
  
• 2). Fill out form CRA 1 if you are a mother going to the registrar without the father, and take this along with form CRA 3, which is a declaration from the father acknowledging that he is the parent of the child.
  
  
• 3). Fill out form CRA 2 if you are a father of a child registering a birth without the mother, and take form CRA 4 from the mother of the child acknowledging that you are the father.
  
  
• 4). Complete form CRA 7 if the father is a man other than the mother's husband. Form CRA 7 is a declaration that the mother's husband is not the father of the child, and it must be completed by the husband.
  
  
• 5). Complete form CRA 8 if the father is a man other than the mother's husband, and the mother had been separated from her husband for more than 10 months prior to the birth of the child. Include a certified copy of the judicial separation, deed of separation or decree of divorce or nullity.
  
  

Register the Birth

• 1). Take your forms to any of the office locations for the Registrars of Births found throughout Ireland. You may go to any office location regardless of where the birth took place.
  
  
• 2). Show your identification. Acceptable identification includes passports, driving licenses, student identity cards, national age cards and Department of Social and Family Affairs cards.
  
  
• 3). Sign the Register of Birth in the presence of the registrar. If both parents are present, both signatures will be placed on the birth certificate. However, only one signature is required to validate the registration.