Ms Claire McGettrick:

Our main issue with the information session is, essentially, how it is framed and the fact that it is a mandatory mechanism for people who have had a no-contact preference.

Instead this is an opportunity to frame it entirely differently as a service for people who have been subjected to human rights violations, for example. Anybody, therefore, including mothers, regardless of who is applying for information, could be given the information in a booklet in the first instance but if they wish to have it in the form of a meaningful information session, that would be possible too.

We suggest in our amendments things like informing people of the national contact preference register for a start. A person can register his or her preference and if another party has registered a preference in his or her case then it will tell that person what the preference is. A tracing service is also available if a person would like to avail of that.

Also, if records are being handed over, what they mean should be explained, for example, if there is an abbreviation in the record or if a particular form is included; anything to help translate anything confusing from decades ago. In other words, it should encapsulate a service for people who have been wronged by this country and not as this punitive measure to ensure that we know how to protect privacy and understand that just because a no-contact preference has been lodged, a person knows what to do. Adopted people are no different from any other citizen in that regard. We are well aware of what to do. The Senator should feel free to come back if she would like more on that.