Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 27:

In page 24, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following:

"(2) In order to vindicate the welfare of the child referred to in this section, the State shall support the provision of comprehensive post adoption specialised services that respect the child's best interests.".

My party and I feel strongly on this section and I will press the amendment to a vote. The matter is essentially that of post-adoption services, tracing and the rights of people who have been adopted to know about their backgrounds, to know they are adopted and to have their birth certificates stored and provided in the same way as every other citizen. It is about a statutory tracing system as opposed to the non-statutory system currently in place. We have argued this point in detail on Committee Stage, but the only argument the Minister of State has given us against supporting these amendments is that he intends to produce separate legislation to address the issues. I disagree with his decision.

The Bill before the House is substantial adoption legislation. The Bill implements the Hague Convention and adds it to the old adoption legislation that has been on the Statute Book for many years. The discussion around this Bill began in 2003, at which time there was widespread consultation. I have some of the papers from the Adoption Rights Alliance and other bodies with me. The minutes of meetings held at the time clearly indicate that the intention was to include this matter in the Bill, not to introduce separate legislation. I accept that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, and not the current Minister of State was in office at the time, but the former indicated to the interests concerned during the consultation process that these issues would be addressed in this Bill. They are in despair because the provisions have not been included in this legislation and people do not believe the area will be dealt with in a reasonable timeframe. They believe they will need to wait for years more before this mechanism and its various elements are put in place.

People who are adopted need to have available to them as much information as possible. They need to be able to find out about themselves. We have heard of the various issues concerning medical records and so on, but this is fundamentally a human rights issue. People have a right to know about themselves and their backgrounds. Where the current tracing mechanism is concerned, issues like mutual consent by the natural mother and the person seeking to trace his or her origins have been teased out at length and all of the interests concerned have agreed on them. If the Minister of State included this provision in the Bill, he would not need to contend with any fundamental issues of disagreement.

My colleague, Deputy Burton, also wishes to address this issue. She has a great deal of experience in this regard, so I will not go on at length about it. That the area is dealt with is important. It can be dealt with by means of the fairly simple language of our proposed amendments. Long, detailed sections and subsections are not necessary. The Bill needs straightforward language to the effect that people have a right to post-adoption services, tracing mechanisms and the storing and accessibility of their birth certificates in the same way as is the case for every other citizen. I urge the Minister to accept the amendments that have been tabled on behalf of the Labour Party.

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