Mr. Tim Duggan:

Deputy Brady asked about adopted people. I invite members to imagine the situation when somebody goes into an Intreo centre to go through the SAFE process. The SAFE officer has no idea who the person is, and has no idea of his or her birth status, adopted status, or anything like that. There is no difference in the Department's treatment of people on the basis of whether they have been adopted or not. If they are a customer of the Department and have been invited to appear, then they have been issued with a letter which tells them very clearly what they need to bring with them to go through the process. In the case of adopted people, that includes an adoption certificate.

The SAFE officers in the Department have full access to the register of births. Consequently we do not require people to bring their birth certificate with them to their appointment. We encourage them to bring it along if they have it, but we do not absolutely need it. If I appear and give my name and date of birth, the officer is able to directly check the register of births to make sure I am there.

However, if I am an adopted person, I will not feature on that register. I am unlikely to be on it under the name I have given, and perhaps even with the date of birth I have given. Consequently, all the SAFE officer knows is that he or she cannot find the person on the birth register. This can also happen with people who are not adopted. I do not want the committee to think that this just happens with adopted people. It happens just as often with people who have not been adopted. In those circumstances, the SAFE officer simply advises the person concerned to go to his or her local register to get a birth certificate. The SAFE officer does not know if the person is adopted or not, and it does not matter to the SAFE officer. Those are the circumstances in which that occurs.

When a person who is adopted gets an adoption certificate, it is referred to as a birth certificate. When they produce this document, the SAFE officer still will not know that the claimant was adopted. The only reason the SAFE officer would know that is if the claimant themselves told them.

There are two different forms of adoption certificate, as I understand it. The very detailed version, which is not required for this process, indicates near the bottom of the document that it is issued under the Adoption Act 2010. The shorter version of the document, which is perfectly sufficient, does not say that. Consequently, it depends on what document the claimant produces.

In addition to that, a person who is getting a birth certificate for the purposes of SAFE registration is not required to get the long-form version of their birth certificate. They are also not required to pay the full cost of this form. The cost of a birth certificate for SAFE registration purposes is €1. If they say they are getting it for this purpose then they will be given it for this price. The Department will never know whether or not somebody is adopted.