Professor Ray Murphy:

With regard to the balancing of rights, I can see what the Minister is attempting to do, but what he is actually doing is creating an obstacle to free access by adoptees. The primary purpose of the legislation as I understand it is to establish this legal framework and to facilitate access through GDPR. This sets out a national legislative framework that allows people to also claim, under Article 6 of GDPR, that they have a right of access to data. There will be a presumption of constitutionality and legality in respect of this legislation. It is in the remit of the Oireachtas to enact legislation to cover these types of challenging and difficult situations. The Minister is wrong because he is creating an artificial obstacle which may be a significant impediment. Those people who are most affected by this have advocated for its removal. That in itself should tell us something. It does not achieve the long-term objective of denying access. At the end of the day, access will have to be granted under the legislation. We are not saying to remove the no-contact preference where the person will be informed that his or her natural or birth mother does not want contact and he or she will then respect that. Where necessary, we are also advocating for supports through counselling. To reiterate, I do not think it is required by any constitutional balancing of rights to incorporate this. It is certainly not required under any international legal provision. At the end of the day, the Oireachtas must decide what the priority is and how to facilitate access by adoptees. The commission has suggested that the formal meeting that is proposed acts as an impediment and does not help.