Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their opening statements and responses. I agree with their call for the removal of the mandatory information session. It seems to be another obstacle to people accessing their information. Their submission echoes the objections raised by representative groups and human rights experts. We have to ask if it is discriminatory to require adopted people to be met by a social worker to have privacy explained to them when there is no evidence that adopted people are incapable of understanding written information or that they might need a compulsory social worker involved in their lives.

I was talking to the Minister about this last week. He told me that a session was necessary for the balancing of rights but, due to time constraints, I was not able to question the point further. The commission has determined that the session should not be compulsory. Will the witnesses elaborate on why and how they came to that conclusion? The Minister seems to be unwilling to acknowledge it. If the witnesses could give any points to strengthen the argument for its removal, that would be appreciated.