Ms Muriel Thornton:

I am grateful for the opportunity to give the committee our views on the forthcoming legislation on adoption information and tracing. This Bill has been a long time coming, and we have made submissions on previous information and tracing Bills over the past 20 years, none of which was enacted.

Our first observation is that the very Title of the Bill betrays its presumptions upfront. The suggestion is that it is primarily adopted people who are the seekers. The heads of the Bill, when closely examined, show that it is of very little relevance to the many thousands of mothers, fathers and other relatives who have phoned our helpline throughout the past decades or attended our support meetings seeking our advice and assistance in contacting their adult children.

We are familiar with the complexities involved, having sat on the advisory committee appointed by the then Minister of State, Brian Lenihan, which led to the setting up of the National Information and Tracing Service by the Adoption Board in 2007. The information leaflet about this service, containing our helpline number, was sent to every address in the State. The calls over the following years have uncovered the harsh treatment, illegal practices and social pressures which led to the separation of mothers from their children. We have provided the committee with one of our previous submissions which illustrates this well.

Specific to the proposed Bill, we ask the committee to consider the following. A referendum should be held on the primacy of information rights over privacy where adoption, fostering or residential care settings have separated mothers, fathers and other relatives from their children. The Bill should be renamed as the "Family Information and Tracing Bill". Many people were not legally adopted but still require a tracing and information service. This is about families after all - not about birth.

The legislation should grant equality to mothers and fathers in the service. Adoption certificates should be provided to the mothers and the birth certificates to their adult children. We understand that the names and address of the adopting parents would be redacted. A comprehensive information leaflet should be provided to all regarding the laws on adoption and what papers may be contained within the file. The present Tusla leaflet is a lesson in obfuscation.

As most of the social workers will have retired, the only true witness to the circumstances surrounding the separation of the child from the mother is the mother. She should be facilitated to read her file in the presence of a social worker, who should explain the significance of particular documents. The mother should be helped to write a statement to correct or add to the information before it is given to her adult child. She would not be allowed to remove anything from the file.

Provision should be made for counselling assistance to the mother if the adopted person refuses to provide information to her.

The Adoption Authority of Ireland should immediately trace and write to all people registered as adopted to inform them of the fact of their adoption. At present, the laws on privacy are interpreted in such a way that apparently prevents this.

My colleague, Rhoda Mac Manus, would be happy to answer any questions.