Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Just to set out the overall context, it is important to remember that the definition of care arrangement is set out on page 9 of the Bill. That sets out the types of care arrangements that are relevant to the release of information provided for in the Bill. It is particularly relevant to the definition of a "relevant person" and the categories of information that are eligible for release under the Bill. The types of care arrangement defined in the Bill include a nursed out arrangement, a boarded out arrangement, and an arrangement under which a child was cared for by a resident of an institution, among others.

On the specific amendments in this group, amendment No. 7 is not one I can support. The definition of care arrangement is a key definition and is central to the understanding of several other definitions. This definition is expansive and seeks to ensure that a broad range of care arrangements and areas are covered. What is being proposed by amendment No. 7 is the removal of that and this is obviously not something I can support.

I am also not in a position to support amendments Nos. 8, 9 and 10. They seek to alter the definition of care arrangement. The provisions of amendment No. 8 are already covered in subsection (9) of the existing definition of care arrangement contained in the legislation, which provides for "an arrangement under which a child was cared for as a resident of an institution specified in the Schedule". We believe that part is already covered. Amendment No. 9 is already covered by the definition of care information which provides for the release of information to anyone who made care arrangements or was a party to them. In that context, amendment No. 9 is unnecessary.

Amendment No. 10 seeks to expand the definition to include care provided by a parent or guardian of the child. I understand the spirit behind this amendment but this refers to care provided to a child by its parent, outside of the institution. We have to be very honest about the type of information we are going to have available. When the child is with a parent and not in an institution, there will not be records of what happened in that situation. We must be honest with people. We have all met survivors who have tried to get their information only to be told that the information no longer exists. Suggesting to survivors that there is information about what happened when they were cared for by their own parents outside of an institution is problematic. That is not information that the institution has because, by its very nature, the care was taking place outside of the institution. We can confirm that where a child was cared for by a parent within an institution, and we know that happened in many of the mother and baby homes, that information is available because obviously it is part of the institutional records but we cannot make claims about finding and delivering information about what happened outside of these institutions. We would be raising false hope by doing that.