Ms Patricia Carey:

I will address the issue of the three-month window. We have to balance trying to get the information out to as many people as possible. As the Chair mentioned, we must communicate with the diaspora of the adopted around the world. The last time there was a national communication was in 2005, which was for the national adoption contact preference register. At the time every household in Ireland received an information leaflet about the register. We would ask for that again. We would also ask for an international campaign through our embassies via the Department of Foreign Affairs.

It is important as it gives people an opportunity, not only if they wish to register "no contact", but also if they wish to register. Many birth parents have moved around the world, maybe for reasons of trauma from being in Ireland, as have adult adoptees. We ask that consideration would be given, in terms of balance, that that window would be slightly longer than three months. I think 12 weeks is a huge ask, in terms of the resources and the pressures.

The other question asked was about gathering all the files into one place. The Adoption Authority of Ireland, as the statutory holder of every legal adoption file in Ireland, and the Child and Family Agency both hold a significant number of agency files. As I said earlier, we have worked with the National Archives of Ireland for the last five years in terms of developing ourselves as a place of deposit and that the files would be held at National Archives of Ireland standards. Into the future, there are plans for a national adoption and memorial archive. At the moment, however, the files are split between the Child and Family Agency and the Adoption Authority of Ireland. By the end of the year, all of the formal adoption society files will be either with the Child and Family Agency or with ourselves.