Ms Noreen Leahy:

I thank the joint committee and its Chairman, Deputy Buttimer, for providing the Department of Children and Youth Affairs with the opportunity to brief the committee on the heads of the adoption (information and tracing) Bill 2015. The Minister's overall policy objective for this legislation has been to provide access to as much information as possible to adopted persons within constitutional parameters. A particular challenge was faced in the case of adoptions in the past in reconciling an adopted person's request for information about his or her identity with the constitutional right to privacy of his or her birth parent.

I will now turn to the main features of the Bill. The heads of the Bill provide for the establishment of the adoption information register on a statutory basis. The register will be a gateway for those seeking adoption information and tracing services. It will allow an individual to indicate his or her preference regarding contact or the sharing of information or both. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, will be responsible for the operation of the register and the provision of information and tracing services. Tusla will facilitate and support contact between parties, if desired. Support and guidance will be offered to all persons who request contact or the sharing of information or both. The Adoption Authority of Ireland will be responsible for collecting, restoring, preserving and safekeeping adoption records for all domestic and intercountry adoptions, including information relating to informal adoptions and incorrect birth registrations. The heads of the Bill set out the information that must be retained by the Adoption Authority of Ireland for future adoptions and, in so far as it is available, for past domestic and intercountry adoptions, informal adoptions and incorrect birth registrations.

On the information to be provided for future adoptions, for all adoptions effected after the commencement of this Bill, provision is made for Tusla to provide a copy of a birth certificate, an adoption order and other information to an adopted person following an application by the adopted person. Birth parents will be notified of the proposed release of this information to applicants at least 12 weeks prior to the release of such information. There is a presumption in favour of the disclosure of information unless there are compelling reasons, such as may endanger the life of a person, for the non-disclosure of adoption information. Tusla will consider same and decide if the information is to be disclosed. The birth parents and adoptive parents will be advised of these arrangements by Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland, as appropriate, during the assessment and the adoption process.

Moving on to information to be provided for past adoptions, the right to privacy has been recognised by the courts as one of the unspecified personal rights protected by Article 40.3 of the Constitution of Ireland. A particular challenge was faced in reconciling an adopted person's request for information about his or her identity with the right to privacy of his or her birth parents. One key provision in the Bill is to give an adopted person aged 18 or over, who was adopted prior to its commencement, a statutory entitlement to the information required to apply for his or her birth certificate. The adopted person will be asked to make a statutory declaration agreeing not to contact the birth parent. The inclusion of provisions regarding a statutory declaration were developed to provide for a balancing of the rights of adopted persons to information about their identity and the birth parents' right to privacy. There, of course, will be no requirement for an adopted person to sign a statutory declaration where birth parents have indicated a preference for contact or have consented to the release of the information or where it has been established the birth parents are deceased. At all stages of the process, both the birth parent and the adopted person will be offered appropriate support and guidance by a social worker.

The heads of the Bill also provide that information that relates solely to an adopted person, such as information about time spent in a nursery or early personal medical history, will be provided to the adopted person as soon as possible. In addition, information that focuses on the adopted person but which may incidentally include non-identifying information about his or her birth parents, such as personal history or family background, also can be provided. In releasing such information, Tusla will ensure the birth parents' identity or contact details or both are not disclosed. The heads of the Bill provide that additional identifying information will be disclosed to an adopted person with the consent of the birth parent concerned. This includes specific information requested by the adopted person and other information that could identify birth parents. The heads also provide for circumstances in which this information can be provided without consent such as where, following reasonable steps having taken by Tusla, the person cannot be located or where the person to whom the information relates is deceased. The heads of Bill also provides for a court procedure to dispense with consent where the person concerned cannot give consent because of incapacity to so do. In addition, provision will be made for an adopted person or a birth parent who is not satisfied with the outcome of the process to appeal to the court.

As for the awareness campaign, there will be a period of one year after commencement before an adopted person will have a statutory entitlement to the information required to apply for his or her birth certificate. However, it should be noted that during this time, this information and any other information which might identify a birth parent will be provided to an adopted person where the birth parent consents or where the birth parent is deceased. During this initial period, there will be an extensive high-level information campaign to publicise the provisions of the legislation and to encourage adopted persons and birth parents to enter their details on the adoption information register. They also will be advised to engage with Tusla's information and tracing services if they are considering sharing information or having contact or both with a person from whom they were separated as a result of an adoption. The campaign also will outline that an adopted person aged 18 years or more will be entitled to receive the information required to apply for his or her birth certificate subject to the adopted person signing a statutory declaration. Birth parents also will be made aware they may indicate a preference of no contact at present on the adoption information register where they do not wish to have contact with the adopted person present.

The heads of the Bill provide that Tusla will provide a person whose name is entered on the register of intercountry adoptions with all information held on record where Tusla has been given approval by the authority to disclose the information to the applicant. Where the adopted person seeks additional information, the authority may seek this from the central authority of the country of origin. Birth parents of children who are subject to intercountry adoptions also may avail of information and tracing services from Tusla. Provision is made in the heads of the Bill for persons who were the subject of informal adoptions and incorrect registrations to apply to have their details entered on the adoption information register to avail of information and tracing services. Informal adoptions include persons in a long-term family care arrangement where a child was in the custody of a person other than his or her parent or guardian and where no adoption order was effected. Incorrect registrations include persons who were the subject of an incorrect registration of a birth under the Civil Registration Acts for the purpose of registering as a parent a person who was not a parent of that child. The heads of the Bill also provide that birth parents of people who were subject to such arrangements may apply for information in the same way. The heads of the Bill provide that persons who are subject to these arrangements can be provided with information, where available, in a similar manner to the provision of information to adopted persons whose adoption was effected prior to commencement. However, it should be noted that many of these arrangements operated in conditions of great secrecy and there rarely were any contemporary records of these events. In such cases, there may be very little information available or very limited information, if at all. The heads of the Bill also provide for the sharing of information about a child who was adopted between birth parents and adoptive parents, where both parties agree. Once again, I thank members for the opportunity to brief the joint committee today. I hope the information and briefing material provided has been of assistance to the joint committee and I am happy to address any questions members may have.