Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the contributors, both those before us and those at previous sessions today and other days. They spoke honestly and movingly in sharing what I can only imagine is possibly the most painful life experience they have gone through. Today it hit home to me how fortunate we as legislators are to be in a position to bring about legislation that can have a real and meaningful impact on people's lives, and I thank them sincerely for their honesty, integrity and sincerity in sharing their experiences with us. It certainly will prove beneficial as we look over their contributions to see whether we can improve the general scheme of the Bill to make it fit for purpose and ensure it has the desired effect and is a help to those concerned.

I will not go back over a number of points I made in the previous session because I am conscious many present were in the Visitors Gallery and know what was said. I am interested in the contributions given by the two legal experts. I am reminded of the old saying that doctors differ and patients die. The legal evidence the Department is getting is at variance with what the legal experts stated. The common theme in all the contributions is the right of privacy, the veto and the signing of the declaration. That is the big stumbling block. Both legal experts stated it is our job as legislators to determine the competing rights and deal with this complex social matter, yet the Department, in its contribution a number of weeks ago, told us that the only way it could deal with this retrospectively is to insert this.

I am conscious I have been asked how quickly can we move this on. Many have spoken about the sensitive nature of the general scheme of the Bill and the lead-in period of 12 months, but that is when it is enacted. As someone quite correctly stated, this has been ongoing since 1997. I hold my hand up because the previous Government ignored this. This has been ongoing for four and a half years since the current Government came to office. We are only getting to the start of it in the twilight of this term. We need to determine how we can nail it down and ensure the best outcome can be achieved in a timely manner to give effect to the proposed legislation. I would welcome the witnesses' opinion on that.

Nobody referred to the lead-in time of 12 months. It should be much shorter. Whatever resources would be provided to the publicity campaign could be channelled into a much tighter timeframe and there could be a much more extensive media campaign to ensure people were made aware of this issue.

Funding is crucial. People are waiting years for the limited information that is currently available. We cannot stand over that. The proposed legislation, while welcome, will not be fit for purpose if it is not matched by adequate resources in terms of funding and the necessary personnel to execute this.

On the issues of illegal adoptions and illegal registrations, how would a person know? I do not suspect I am, but to all intents and purposes I could be illegally adopted and not know. I would welcome the views of witnesses on how we can tackle that. Those who were adopted legally, albeit maybe forced, are somewhat lucky in that at least they know they can now find their true identity, but what about the person who does not know whether he or she was illegally adopted? How can we as legislators help and facilitate that process?

I thank the witnesses for the sincerity of their contributions.