27.—(1) Regulations shall require such persons as may be specified to keep specified records of—

(a) the birth of a child, whether before or after the commencement of this section, on board an Irish aircraft or an Irish ship,

(b) the birth of a child of an Irish citizen on board a foreign ship or a foreign aircraft travelling to or from a port, or an airport, as the case may be, in the State, and

(c) the birth of a child of a member of the Garda Síochána or the Permanent Defence Force outside the State while the member is serving outside the State as such member.

(2) Regulations shall provide for the transmission of copies of records referred to in subsection (1), certified by specified persons to be true copies, to an tArd-Chláraitheoir, and for the making of specified returns in relation to such records to specified persons.

(3) An tArd-Chláraitheoir shall cause to be entered in the register the required particulars relating to births referred to in subsection (1).

(4) Regulations shall provide for the correction of errors in records kept under subsection (1) and for the transmission of copies, certified by specified persons to be true copies, of records corrected under this subsection to an tArd-Chláraitheoir.

(5) On receipt of a corrected record under subsection (4), an tArd-Chláraitheoir shall cause a correct entry that takes account of the corrected record to be entered in the register and the then existing entry relating to the birth concerned shall be retained in the register.

(6) Subsections (1) to (5) apply to the stillbirth of a child as they apply to the birth of a child and, accordingly, references in those subsections to birth or births shall be construed as including references to stillbirth or stillbirths, respectively.

(7) In this section—

“foreign aircraft” means an aircraft which is not an Irish aircraft;

“foreign ship” means a ship which is not an Irish ship;

“Irish aircraft” means an aircraft registered in the State;

“Irish ship” has the meaning assigned to it by the Mercantile Marine Act 1955.