Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and his officials for the presentation. I welcome the fact that this legislation will finally be brought before the House. Many people have waited a long time for it. We all acknowledge that everybody is entitled to know their identity and their health footprint. Even in non-contact situations everybody should be entitled to their medical records.

A number of issues were covered today. The main issue is compelling reasons. There has been much discussion about that today, ranging from thinking a compelling reason is a matter of life and death to it being, perhaps, distress. We seek more clarification on that. Who decides what distress is? There are two parties involved in this and just because one party might be distressed, it does not mean they are more distressed than the other party. We must have clarification on that.

Representatives of Tusla appeared before the committee earlier and they, too, were seeking further clarification of the compelling reasons grounds. They stated that compelling reasons can mean different things to different people. In addition, who will make the ultimate decision on what the compelling reasons are? Is it Tusla or a social worker? I got the impression from their presentation that it might be a social worker, although perhaps I misread it. Social workers are very experienced, but in all walks of life some people are more experienced than others and there will be people going into social work straight from college and they would not have the experience to deal with it. Who ultimately will make that decision?

With regard to the appeals process, is it just an appeals panel within Tusla or is it a civil legislation matter? Would there be a cost involved in the appeal and who would cover that cost?

Regarding Tusla's budget, is the Minister confident that it has the budget required to deliver all of its responsibilities? We know it got additional money in the budget, but that money must be divvied out to many different organisations ranging from family resource centres and refuge centres to employing extra social care workers. The after-care Bill was introduced in the last couple of days and now we will have the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill. Does the Minister think that the extra funding Tusla has been allocated will cover all of that?