45.—(1) Where, either before or after the commencement of this Part, a person has been found or adjudged to be a parent of a child in any civil proceedings before a court relating to guardianship ofinfants or maintenance (including affiliation) or under section 215 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981, such a finding or adjudication shall, notwithstanding the fact that that person did or did not offer any defence to the allegation of parentage or was or was not a party to those proceedings, be admissible in evidence in any subsequent civil proceedings for the purpose of proving that that person is or, where not alive, was a parent of that child:

Provided that no finding or adjudication as aforesaid other than a subsisting one shall be admissible in evidence by virtue of this section.

(2) Where evidence that a person has been found or adjudged to be a parent of a child has been submitted in subsequent proceedings by virtue of subsection (1) of this section, then—

(a) that person shall be taken to be or, where he is not alive, to have been a parent of that child, unless the contrary is proved on the balance of probabilities, and

(b) in relation to the prior court proceedings the contents of any document which was before that court, or which contains any pronouncement of that court, shall, without prejudice to the submission of any other admissible evidence for the purpose of identifying the facts on which the finding or adjudication was based, be admissible for that purpose.

(3) Where in subsequent civil proceedings the contents of any document are admissible in evidence by virtue of subsection (2) of this section, a copy of that document, or of the material part thereof, purporting to be certified or otherwise authenticated by or on behalf of the court or authority having custody of that document shall be admissible in evidence and shall be taken to be a true copy of that document or part unless the contrary is shown.