Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming before the committee today. I welcome his words in respect of rebuilding trust, particularly on the mother and baby homes issue. I note his remarks during the passage of the legislation in respect of requesting this committee to have regard to this issue. However, we are unclear what the Minister means by that. It would be useful to have his perspective in that regard. Underpinning all of that is the commitment by the Minister in regard to the information and tracing Bill. When will that Bill come before us? The GDPR issues are matters on which we also need to have the Minister's perspective. We have received correspondence from Dr. Maeve O'Rourke on rights of access to information. I am sure the Minister will be in possession of that same information.

The Minister told us that he had met with survivors and groups. I am sure they notified him of some legislative changes they seek in respect of the Civil Registration Act 2004, which would provide people with their birth certificate. In the case of the Clann project and the data protection issues, I understand a Bill on access to historical care-related archives is being drafted.

I am raising many issues to which I do not expect the Minister to respond fully today but I want to put them on the record. On the issue of the interpretation of the GDPR, which we understand provides for access to information, and the information and tracing Bill, what are the timelines in that regard? How important will the information and tracing Bill be in dealing with the mother and baby homes issue? If it is to deal with the issues, the committee must see the Minister show good faith in respect of a throughput of work from a legislative point of view to ensure we do not end up hearing from stakeholders and then nothing happening after the fact. We need to work with the Minister, the stakeholders and everybody else involved in this matter. From a legislative point of view, we need to work in a process of partnership with all of the stakeholders to ensure the voices of the Maeve O'Rourke's and Claire McGettricks of this world are heard and that what they say is dealt with in a meaningful way so that we work through all of the issues. I am sure other members will make similar points on this issue.

Has the Minister given consideration to amending the Civil Registration Act 2004 to provide all adopted people with a birth certificate? When will the commission's report be published? I do not wish to deal with any of these issues until the committee has had sight of that report and read through its recommendations.

I also want to give more time to the GDPR considerations and the information and tracing Bill considerations because they are all vital if we, as a committee, are going to deal with this issue in a sympathetic and meaningful way.

These are general points. I realise that the clock is ticking down. I do not expect the Minister to reply completely in the one minute that is left but I am sure he will have an opportunity to do so in the course of proceedings.