Ms Claire McGettrick:

I welcome the opportunity to raise the issue of the UK headlines. Believe it or not it was over 40 years ago. For the benefit of those who may not be aware of it, when the Children Act 1975 was being enforced in the UK in 1976 adopted people in England and Wales were given the right to their birth certificates. Right throughout the enactment and the debates of that legislation adopted people were painted as vindictive and potential blackmailers who would bring a threat to arrive on the doorstep. That only intensified when the legislation was enacted. We saw all manner of unhelpful headlines about knocks on the door etc. In the aftermath of that legislation numerous research projects took place. The late John Triseliotis looked at analysis of all that research and found that all these predicted calamities never actually came to pass. Adopted people act responsibly - of course we do. We are not somehow different or unable to act responsibly or unable to act like normal human beings. Of course adopted people act responsibly. In fact I would argue we are probably more aware than many other citizens given what is at stake. As we said in our submission, adopted people often suppress unimaginable grief when it comes to things like attending a funeral incognito to spare the feelings of others or even staying away from funerals.

Here we are four decades later and we see the same sort of headlines appearing in the Irish media and, I daresay, in the discourse in the Oireachtas. It is really unhelpful and stigmatising. I am reminded of the Noble Call speech made by Panti Bliss where she referred to respectable people having a conversation about us, our rights, what we supposedly deserve and what we have been entrusted with. So many people are sitting here talking about us it is almost as if we are not here or that we have never met a natural mother in our lives. It is as if we do not have decades of experience in this area. We are highly invested in this area and in getting this right.

The impact of the information session as envisaged is monumental. It is so insulting to expect an adopted person to sign up to it and support it, even if it only applies to a tiny fraction of the adopted people affected. No adopted person I know would want to have equality at the expense of an adopted person's dignity.

As I explained before, it is entirely possible to legislate fairly in this area. As my colleague Dr. O'Rourke has pointed out, there are plenty of harassment laws in place. There is no reason for the really disciplinary measure of the information session as it is currently designed. People can opt in and out of various levels of support. Of course various kinds of support should be made available to everyone who is receiving information, but we are a broad church. Counselling is not for everyone. Contact is not for everyone. Nothing should be rammed down the throat of anyone. I will hand over to Dr. O'Rourke.