27. —F59[(1) A foreign births entry book shall be kept at such Irish diplomatic missions and consular offices as the Minister for Foreign Affairs may, from time to time, specify in regulations.]

F60[(1A) A foreign births register shall be kept in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.]

(2) The F59[birth outside the island of Ireland] of a person deriving citizenship through a father or mother F59[so born] may be registered, in accordance with the foreign births regulations, either in any foreign births entry book or in the foreign births register, at the option of the person registering the birth.

(3) Particulars of all births entered in a foreign births entry book shall be transmitted, from time to time, in accordance with the foreign births regulations, to the Department of F59[Foreign Affairs] for entry in the foreign births register.

F61[(3A) A register for the purpose of the registration of gender recognition of foreign births shall be kept in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and on receipt of an application in that behalf by a person referred to in subparagraph (iii) of section 9 (1)(a) of the Gender Recognition Act 2015 to whom a gender recognition certificate is issued, particulars of the person’s gender recognition shall be entered in that register.]

(4) A document purporting to be a copy of an entry in a foreign births entry book or in the foreign births register F61[or, where applicable, an entry in the register referred to in subsection (3A)], and to be duly authenticated, shall be admitted in evidence without proof of the signature or seal whereby it is authenticated or of the authority of the person whose signature or seal appears thereon and shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed a true copy of the entry and accepted as proof of the fact and terms thereof.

(5) The Minister for F59[Foreign Affairs] may make regulations (in this Act referred to as the foreign births regulations) respecting the form and manner of keeping of foreign births entry books and the foreign births register, the registration of births therein, F60[the amendment or deletion of incorrect entries therein,] the transmission of particulars of births from foreign births entry books for entry in the foreign births register, the inspection of the books and register by the public, the furnishing of extracts therefrom, and (with the consent of the Minister for Finance) the fees (if any) to be charged for registration of births in the books and register, for the inspection thereof and for furnishing extracts therefrom.

F61[(5A) Regulations may also be made under subsection (5) for the purposes of the register referred to in subsection (3A) respecting the form and manner of keeping of the register, the registration of gender recognition therein, the persons to whom extracts there from may be furnished, the amendment or deletion of incorrect entries therein, the amendment or deletion of an entry in the register to correspond with an amendment or deletion of an incorrect entry in the foreign births register, the amendment or deletion of an entry where the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade is notified under the Gender Recognition Act 2015 that a gender recognition certificate is amended or revoked, making a traceable connection between the foreign births register and the register referred to in subsection (3A), confidentiality attaching to such traceable connection and to the register referred to in subsection (3A) and (with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform) the fees (if any) to be charged for registration of gender recognition in the register and for furnishing extracts thereof.]

F60[(6) Where the foreign births regulations provide for the amendment or deletion of incorrect entries made in any foreign births entry book or the foreign births register, the regulations may, at the discretion of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, also provide for notice to be given and the time in which notice shall be given, before any such proposed amendment or deletion is made, to any person (whose whereabouts is known and can readily be found) affected by the proposal and the manner, the time in which and to whom representations may be made in respect of the proposal by any such person.]

F61[(7) In this section "gender recognition certificate" has the same meaning as it has in the Gender Recognition Act 2015;]