Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the witnesses for the great presentation and the report, which is most helpful. I am conscious of the findings and the language, and we had a good look at the language issue, particularly the language of "birth mother". Do either of the witnesses want to comment on the issue that, in the heads of Bill, it is "birth parent" that is used - the gender-neutral term - and "birth mother" is just used in the interpretation section? Do they feel that is an adequate reflection of the findings they made in the respondent survey?

We have already covered the issue of the balance of rights between the privacy right and the information right. I entirely agree with the witnesses' comments about the need to re-prioritise and to ensure we are now giving recognition to the right of somebody to know his or her identity, in other words, the information right. For far too long, we have allowed privacy rights to trump information rights, and that has to change. As I said, it is something we have covered already.

A key finding is about the lack of trust and that, as was said, adoptees do not trust agencies or social workers. How can we ensure the legislation will be drafted in such a way as to create a sufficient system that will address the issue of trust and will restore the trust of adoptees? I know that is a big question but it is a very pressing issue for us.