Registering a birth in Ireland and getting the birth certificate

The steps, in order

1. In hospital: staff complete a Birth Notification Form (BNF/01) with you and send it to the Registrar. After a home birth attended by a healthcare professional, they give you the signed form to bring to your appointment.
2. Wait 3 weeks after a hospital birth before booking (after a home birth you can book at any time).
3. Choose any Civil Registration Service, wherever the birth took place. Use the HSE's Find a Civil Registration Service to book; some offices take appointments online or by phone, and some have walk-in times.
4. Fill in the Birth Registration Application form and post or email it, or bring it with you. Either way you must attend to sign the Register of Births.
5. Bring photo identification (passport or driving licence) and your PPS number. If you married abroad, bring the original marriage certificate and a translation if needed.
6. Order your birth certificate(s) at the same time if you like.

Registration is free. It must be done within 3 months (up to 12 months in some circumstances).

Registering online

Since 2024, some parents are invited to register online on MyWelfare.ie. You need a verified MyGovID account (both parents, if you are not married to each other) and the birth notification ID that the Civil Registration Office posts to the mother. Some registrations cannot be done online: if either parent is separated, divorced, widowed or deceased; if both parents wish to be registered as a same-sex couple; for a donor-conceived birth; and for a stillbirth.

What registering on time switches on

If you register after 3 months, you have to contact Client Identity Services and the Department of Social Protection yourself for the PPS number and Child Benefit. You must also apply for a PPSN if the birth is not registered within 180 days, if both parents' addresses are outside Ireland, or if your child was born abroad.

Married, unmarried, same-sex and donor-conceived

Married parents: one parent can register; both can attend if you both want to sign.

Unmarried parents have four routes, with forms from the Registrar:

• both parents attend together (form CRA 9);
• the mother attends with a declaration naming the father (CRA 1) and the father's declaration (CRA 3);
• the father attends with his declaration (CRA 2) and the mother's declaration (CRA 4);
• either parent attends with a certified court order naming the father (CRA 5 or CRA 6).

Since December 2025, a mother who is not married to the father and registers alone must give the father's contact details, unless she makes a statutory declaration that she does not know who or where he is, or (with evidence) that it would not be in the child's best interests for safety reasons. The Civil Registration Service writes to the father; if he does not reply within 28 days or denies paternity, the birth is registered without his details. A father's name on the certificate does not on its own give him guardianship rights.

Donor-conceived babies (DAHR): the birth mother and her spouse, civil partner or cohabitant can both be registered as parents. This applies to opposite-sex couples, female same-sex couples and single women.

• Conceived after 4 May 2020 in an Irish DAHR facility with a traceable donor: the clinic gives you a certificate, which you submit with an application to the General Register Office.
• Conceived before 4 May 2020: the birth is registered with the birth mother only, then re-registered (form BRR1) after the District Court grants a Declaration of Parentage.

Choosing the name

The surname registered must be the surname of either or both parents; another surname needs an application to the Registrar General or a Superintendent Registrar. Adding or changing a forename later costs €5 and requires documentary evidence, so take your time before signing. The record is a key legal document and hard to correct afterwards.

Birth certificate fees, as of October 2026

You can order copies when you register, later at any Registrar's office, by email, online, or by post with a cheque or postal order. You no longer need an Irish birth certificate for social welfare purposes: the Department checks the register directly. You will need one for your baby's passport and for school enrolment.

Your checklist

• Keep the Birth Notification Form safe if you had a home birth
• Book the registration appointment from 3 weeks after a hospital birth
• Agree the name and surname before you go
• Bring photo ID and both PPS numbers
• Order the birth certificate(s) you need
• Watch the post for the Child Benefit form (first child) and see our Child Benefit guide
• Use your baby's PPSN for Parent's Benefit and the GP visit card

Our Having a Baby in Ireland guide has the whole after-birth paperwork timeline on one printable page.

Questions parents ask

Sources

1. Citizens Information — Registering the birth of your baby checked October 13, 2026
2. Citizens Information — Personal Public Service (PPS) number, getting a PPS number for a child checked October 13, 2026
3. HSE — Find a Civil Registration Service checked October 13, 2026
4. Citizens Information — Fertility treatments and donor-assisted human reproduction checked October 13, 2026

Read next