Same-sex parents will soon be able to register both names on their child's birth certificate, under new regulations to be signed by the Health Minister Simon Harris.

A ban on anonymous sperm donation and the creation of a register for donor conceived children will also come into effect shortly.

The Department of Health has confirmed that Minister Harris will sign the regulations on Monday.

This will allow same-sex parents register both their names on their child's birth cert from May 5th 2020.

In addition, the minister has agreed to examine "other areas of law reform" required to support all LGBT families.

He will be committing to work with them on these issues in coming weeks and months, the department adds.

Minister Harris said: "Today is a really important day. We will sign the regulations to commence parts of the Children and Family Relationships Act.

"This is something many families have fought for for years and I am so pleased we know have a start date.

"When we voted in the marriage equality referendum, we voted for every relationship to be treated equally.

"However, it is clear our legislation still needs to evolve.

"When I met with LGBT families a number of weeks ago, they pointed out the impractical realities of our current laws and while we know some of their issues will be addressed through the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill, there are areas that require some consideration.

"I have some proposals as to how to look at these matters but I want to discuss these with the families first and hope to make some progress on this next week."

However, the regulations do not cover same-sex parents who have children through a surrogate.

In theory, a woman who donates eggs to the surrogate will not be the name on the child's birth cert despite having a biological connection.