Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Adoption Authority of Ireland and Tusla have been provided with additional resources to increase the levels of staff and increase their systems, particularly IT, to be able to undertake their work under the birth information and tracing legislation. They are provided for under these specific heads. They are not coming from the mother and baby institution heads that we have already discussed. I recognise that there are delays in the provision of information. As of last week, 6,700 people had applied to the Adoption Authority of Ireland or Tusla for their information. Of these, 1,700 have received conclusive answers. Both organisations are making their way through the backlog. There is a backlog and I understand how that is very frustrating for former residents and adopted people. The information is being provided to people. People are being linked to relatives through the tracing scheme which has been set up and through the contact preference register. The overall outcome of the legislation, which is the provision of information for some people who have never got that information before, is being delivered.