Averil Power (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like Senator van Turnhout, I welcome the fact that we are at the point where heads of a Bill are before us. It is an issue I have been working on for some time both as a Member of the Oireachtas and as an adopted person myself. It is something that has been promised for a long time and finally we are at the start of a legislative process at least. It is, of course, positive. I also welcome the fact that the Department has indicated that there will be a somewhat proactive tracing service and advertising campaigns to back up the legislation and I would like more detail on those matters. I also welcome the fact that heads of the Bill before us go further and are more positive than the Government had been indicating even up to quite recently. When the Minister, Deputy Reilly, was in the Seanad to discuss the Bill Senator van Turnhout and I put forward earlier this year, the position he outlined from a Government perspective was much more conservative. People who were adopted in the past would not have a right to information, whereas those adopted in the future would. It would not address the 50,000 to 60,000 of us adopted in the past. There would be no point to that really because there are very few domestic adoptions in Ireland now. It really is about redress for adopted people who were separated from their parents and for women who were forced to separate from their children during a really dark part of our past. We have an opportunity now to get it right for all of those people and to do the humane and generous thing. We must be generous and ambitious in doing this because it means so much to people. We must go as far as possible.

In that context, I have concerns along the lines of those raised by Senator van Turnhout with regard to what is meant by the term "compelling reasons". I am nervous about that in particular because I do not accept that there are any reasons an adopted person should be denied his or her birth certificate. I accept that a natural parent's current contact details should only be released with that person's consent, but we must separate the two issues of identity and contact. While it is fair enough not to give out someone's current contact details, I do not accept that there are any situations in which the adopted person should be refused access to the basic information in his or her birth certificate. In trying to balance the two, one right is rendering the other at nil. That is not acceptable. When the Government announced the Bill earlier in the summer, it was stated that the circumstances would be limited, but naturally there are concerns. I have spoken to some legal people and I understand the committee will hear from Dr. Conor O'Mahony and Dr. Fergus Ryan about the matter. There are concerns among the legal community that this could open the door to legal challenges in that we will really only know what constitutes a compelling reason following a court case. That is not acceptable. As such, I will be arguing that the clause should be removed. I hope that in coming before the committee the officials and the Minister have an open mind in this area in terms of listening. Obviously, they have one set of advice on which they are acting and of course the Attorney General has a role to play. However, I hope the officials will keep an open mind in listening to alternative views on prospective legal balances being put forward by Dr. O'Mahony, Dr. Ryan and others.

The statutory declaration has been criticised by groups representing both natural parents and adopted people. The First Mothers group, which is due to come before the committee, has criticised this just as strongly as those representing adopted persons. It seems to reflect a negative assumption that adoptees are irrational and insensitive and that we want to enforce some kind of pain or inconvenience on our natural parents, which could not be further from the truth. When I was looking for my mother and preparing for us to meet, I was more conscious of her needs and how it would affect her family and my birth siblings who did not know about me yet and how we would figure that out. I was really concerned about the memories it would bring back for her of a difficult time in her life. I know from talking to other adopted people that they feel the same. It seems to me to be unnecessary and offensive. When one approaches this as a legal and legislative issue, one needs to be conscious that for many it is a very sensitive human issue. That is why people are so upset by the statutory declaration. There is no doubt that there will be situations where an adopted person will wish to have contact while the natural parent will not. There will also be situations where a natural parent is reaching out and the adoptee is not interested. It is my strong personal view that in the vast majority of those cases people may be disappointed but they will accept the situation. They might hope it will change at some point, which often happens. Many natural mothers decide after a spouse or other person they have not told has passed away that they want to have contact at that later point. Those options should always be open.

We need to start with the majority of cases and legislate for those. In the majority of cases, there will not be a problem and we can let our other law look after the rest. In relation to any form of human behaviour, whether it is adopted people or others, the potential arises for harassment or situations where people do not respect boundaries. However, we have existing laws to deal with that and, as such, I do not know why special provisions are needed in this case. As Senator van Turnhout already pointed out, the Bill will make unwanted contact less likely. The unfortunate thing currently is that it is very difficult to find information oneself, but it is possible. As a result of the fact that there is no intermediary, the only way people can know if contacted is welcome is to reach out and ask. That is not ideal. Given that the Bill will make that less likely, let us assume that for most this will be a positive experience, reduce the likelihood of unwanted contacted and that existing legislation can deal with any difficulties which arise.

Resources will be crucial. It is extremely important to ensure that the necessary counselling and support services are there for people and that there is no backlog. Deputy Robert Troy referred to the existing backlog in respect of social worker appointments. We need to ensure that people who go through this process are not delayed because of a lack of resources but also that they have the supports they need. It is up to the person whether to engage in counselling or other services, but the offer should be there. It is very important that the contact letter that goes from Tusla to the adopted person or the parent is sensitively worded and is not - and I mean this in the nicest possible way - worded in Civil Service speak or legalese. It should not be technical as Government documents often are having been written by lawyers to cover all the technicalities. This is a personal issue and the letter asking people if they wish to have contact must be written in a sensitive, positive and supportive way and must make clear that no contact is not no contact for ever but rather just for the present. It will be very important to get all that right.

I have a question on illegal birth registrations. The witnesses stated that an effort will be made to bring records together to help establish what happened with illegal adoptions. The Department said in the opening statement that those who were illegally adopted can apply for information. What about those who do not know they are illegally adopted? This is a huge issue because people's birth records were falsified. Will the Department examine the records in a proactive manner? If ledgers or registers - such as, for example, that belonging to Nurse Doody which was uncovered some years ago - recording details of babies, their birth parents and, even though there were no real adoptions, their so-called adoptive parents are found, will the Department reach out, contact the people involved and make them aware of the situation in a sensitive way in order to help them to re-establish their links with their past?

Unfortunately, we do not know how many countless people there are across Ireland who do not even realise that they are adopted. I thank the Chairman and appreciate that he has given me a bit of time.