Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I appreciate very much the rationale and concern behind his proposal. What he says is true. I will outline why. Where a child has been adopted, he or she is considered with regard to the rights and duties of parents and children regarding each other as the child of the adopter or adopters. With respect to the child, the mother or guardian of the child and every relevant non-guardian of the child loses all parental rights and is freed from all parental duties in respect of the child. That is the law or statutory basis. Under current practice, however, there are often arrangements in place for ongoing contact between birth parents and adoptive parents and their families where there is agreement among the relevant parties. In addition, the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill will provide that the birth parent and adopted person can enter into arrangements regarding the sharing of information between both parties. On this basis, I do not intend to accept the proposed amendment.