Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge what Deputy Crowe is saying on the burials in Tuam and what was done there, and the importance of the State taking action now to give some dignity to those children and babies in death. It is a dignity we will probably see was not afforded to them in life or immediately on their passing.

As regards the timeline for information and tracing, I hope this legislation will be before the Dáil and, initially, before this committee for pre-legislative scrutiny next year. That is my intention. As I said earlier, there are various views as to whether it is done in conjunction with the issue of the wider archives in an omnibus Bill that will cover a range of Departments or whether it is treated as a discrete issue. I had intended to treat it as a discrete issue but alternative views have been put to me by the Adoption Rights Alliance and I want to examine them before making any determination. I believe that access to the birth certificates should be central in that. We flagged other issues in earlier discussions with Deputies and Senators but when one considers the GDPR is now applicable in this context, those issues need to be looked at again.

The Deputy has outlined some stories of the real difficulties adopted people have experienced in getting access to information. I have heard similar stories in my engagements in recent days. We must take away those roadblocks that Deputy Costello spoke about. While GDPR applicability to the database and to the archive is a step forward, the information and tracing legislation that provides clear legislative pathways to addressing these problems is absolutely essential.

I welcome the Deputy's comments on direct provision. I acknowledge the work he and teachers all over the country do in supporting young people in direct provision by going to local schools and helping the elements of integration. From my engagement I know that in most centres around the country there are significant friends of the local direct provision facility who give that very real Irish welcome to the people in those centres.

We acknowledge many of the centres are not fit for purpose and we need to change the model. That is what we will do in the White Paper. One of the things that I and the Minister for Justice announced three weeks ago as regards the issue of employment is to reduce the time period within which an individual can seek employment from nine months originally to six months. A person can apply for employment, therefore, within six months and that employment permit will last for 12 months rather than just nine months. That makes it much more attractive to employers as well. That is one step of many to make life in the system better and afford people more dignity.