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Britain tops list of foreign-registered births of Irish babies

10/12/2013 Trocaire Highlights 'Invisible Children' on Human Rights Day. One-year-olds Ruth Finneran from Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Aiden O'Dea (left) from Dublin and Aidan Lockett from Dublin showed off their birth certs to mark Human Rights Day which takes place tomorrow (10th December 2013). According to development agency, Trocaire, 49 percent of children in the world's poorest countries are denied formal birth registration, leaving them vulnerable. This year one of Trocaire's Christmas Gifts is the gift of a birth certificate. One of the Trocaire's Christmas gifts is the gift of a birth certificate record for babies in Somalia (eur 15). This will give mothers formal documentation regarding their babies' birth date and location. There is currently no state registration system in Somalia. But once a state system is established, this document can be used to register these children. In the last two years, the organisation has issued 4,842 birth records for newborns in Somalia through its hospitals in Belet Xaawo and Luuq districts in Gedo. To find out more about Trocaire's Christmas Gifts visit trocaire.org/gifts or call 1850 408 408. Trocaire One4all Gift cards, which are an easy way to make a donation to Trocaire as a Christmas gift for a loved one, can also be bought in An Post post offices nationwide or on one4all.ie. Photo: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

MORE IRISH babies were born in Britain than anywhere else outside of Ireland last year, figures reveal.

And while foreign birth registrations are falling in some places, they are on the rise in Britain.

The Department of Foreign Affairs statistics revealed that in 2015, 693 births were registered in London – a rise from the 2013 figure of 563 and 2014’s 624.

In total, 5,826 babies were registered as Irish citizens abroad in 2015.

A baby who is born to parents who are Irish citizens, or who has Irish-born grandparents, is eligible for Irish citizenship.

Some 320 Irish babies were registered in Auckland, New Zealand – while the figures for neighbouring Australia are not specified.

Altogether 2,696 babies born abroad were registered in the Dublin office of Foreign Birth Registrations in 2015.

This large number is made up of births from around the world where there are no facilities for registering the birth locally - many of the smaller centres across the world have closed so applications for an Irish citizenship must come through Dublin.

Coming in second on the list was Ottawa, Canada, were 447 Irish births were registered – followed closely by Pretoria, South, Africa which saw 319 Irish babies welcomed.