Ms Chris Wallace:

I thank the committee for the invitation to express our group's views of the proposed Bill. We are representatives of a group, called relevant persons in the proposed Bill, and share one thing: each of our birth certificates contains false information making them illegal, not just incorrect. We are not, as claimed by some groups, illegal adoptees but the victims of kidnap, child trafficking and identity theft. We fall into three distinct but related groups. The first group, Tusla file discoveries, currently stands at a membership of 151, with an assortment of records being held by Tusla. We classify the second group as other or DNA discoveries. This group currently accounts for 10% of our total with no paperwork to be found but incontrovertible proof of identity through DNA. The third group comprises descendants of groups 1 and 2. This is the largest group as it covers the descendants of both preceding groups. The impact of this group will continue ad infinitum until this Bill is enacted and implemented.

False registrations are still occurring now. The State’s inability to provide a solution is now causing each of us to continually break the law while knowingly using false identities. The number of acknowledged cases of false birth registrations is 151 but that does not take into account groups 2 and 3. Based on our estimates, that number is actually 1,544 false birth records known to date. If the suspected cases identified in the Shadow Cast Long report are used, this equates to a potential 178,000 false birth records. If the marriage and death records are then added, close to 500,000 false records are being held at the General Register Office, GRO. The Bill only deals with false birth registrations, when, in fact, the GRO must also hold false marriage and death certificates.

The State has maintained that the GRO records must be corrected. Alterations without the immediate issue of a certificate of identity, coupled with a cut-off date for births at 31 December 1970, creates the potential for even more family trauma with potential multiple identities in use. In an ideal world, all the records would be held by one easily accessible organisation but until that is possible, a detailed service level agreement must be put in place with any organisations involved to include key performance indicators to be regularly monitored by the Departments of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and Justice.

The use of DNA is critical in both verifying the information held in files and vital in proving identity. Most of the record files held by the State are either incomplete, or partially or totally false, and some cannot be found. In addition to making counselling available, the State needs to provide access to qualified genealogists to work with us to enable us to find our true identities. Without DNA, the Act is of no use to us. These amendments must be made now.

There is nothing in the current Bill to allow the members of this group to access their family data, even when their ancestors are deceased, nor to rectify those false entries. This is leading to a continuation of false certification as the false information is carried forward by each new generation. Despite declaring at the start of the Bill that we would be all included, the addition of clause C in head 29, entitled "Interpretation", you are excluding a very large cohort from their right to rectify their false records. If this is not changed, you are merely continuing the conspiracy of silence that has brought the Government's predecessors into such disrepute. Shame on you.

Justice has been excluded from this Bill while putting a heavy burden on the Irish taxpayer to provide resources. Why not seize the assets of the organisations that committed the crimes and use that to properly resource and fully implement the Bill? I am sure the Irish taxpayers would approve. As Aldous Huxley once said, facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

I thank the committee. My colleague, Ms Kiernan, will be taking the lead in answering questions.