Plea for action on 'unacceptable' birth registration delays in Mayo

An elected member of Mayo County Council is appealing for urgent action by Mayo University Hospital to address the unacceptable delays in registering births in the town.

Councillor Harry Barrett stated: "Young couples are being forced to wait several weeks for birth registrations due to a backlog in the hospital’s paperwork, with no clear explanation as to why this is happening.

"One family, whose baby was born two weeks ago, still hasn’t had their child’s documents transferred from the hospital, which means that they cannot register the birth.

"This is causing unnecessary hardship. They've been told by the registration office that they have details for children born up to the 7th of August. They are being told now that there is a three week delay.

"Without the registration, parents cannot get a PPS number for their child, which in turn delays access to crucial benefits like the GP visit card, medical card, child allowance, and parental leave benefits, which then takes six-weeks to arrive because of the delay.

"The knock-on effect of this delay is putting young families under significant financial strain.

"Parents who are already adjusting to the arrival of a newborn should not be burdened by delays like this that prevent them from receiving the support they are entitled to.

"I urge Mayo University Hospital to explain the cause of this delay and to take immediate action to speed up the process.

"It is simply not good enough to ask families to wait up to three weeks or more for a service that was previously completed in a matter of days."