Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious of the concerns of those who are seeking information about their birth mother or a child given up at birth. The existing arrangements for those seeking access to information reflect a transition from complex and historical situations and I am anxious that the HSE implement much more improved and consistent arrangements for people in such circumstances. Quite a number of actions have taken place and I wish to inform the House about them.

Approximately 25,000 files have been transferred to the HSE regional adoption service in Cork. We did not have any national approach to these files until after the Adoption Act 2010. We now have 25,000 files in Cork from the Sacred Heart Adoption Society, which had responsibility for Bessboro, County Cork; Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea, County Tipperary, and Castlepollard, County Westmeath. The HSE also has records that include those for St. Anne’s Adoption Society, St. Mary’s Adoption Society in Kerry, Ard Mhuire, in Dunboyne in County Meath, Limerick Catholic Adoption Society, St. Patrick's Mother and Baby Home, Navan Road in Dublin, St. Louise's Adoption Society in Dublin, the Dublin Health Authority Board of Assistance, the Rotunda Girls Aid Society, the Ossory Kilkenny Adoption Society, and St. Kevin's and St. John's adoption societies.

The HSE is also in negotiations regarding files from Holles Street, St. Brigid's, and St. Patrick's Guild. Furthermore Pact, which is an agency accredited under the Act, has records of various Protestant organisations. A comprehensive list of records held, and their locations, is available on the HSE website.

In order to deal with the point the Deputy raises, the HSE has also put in place a plan to redistribute records from individual institutions to the various adoption teams around the country in a concerted effort to reduce waiting times. The HSE is also in the process of reorganising the information and tracing system to allocate social work resources countrywide in a way that will allow for reduced waiting times across the country.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The HSE has advised me that, in the first instance, any person seeking information on adoption, or an illegal registration of a birth, should contact the Adoption Authority of Ireland or the HSE community services which will assist in directing them to the personnel dealing with their particular records. The HSE is working to provide a more streamlined service and to ensure that inquiries in regard to information and tracing are handled as quickly as possible.

The national adoption contact preference register was established in 2005 to help adopted people and their natural families to make contact with each other, exchange information or state their contact preferences. They decide, through a range of information and contact options, how they wish to proceed. The Adoption Authority of Ireland has responsibility for the operation of the national adoption contact preference register. The authority has stated that there were 796 applications in 2011, 542 in 2012 and 526 to end September 2013, with a cumulative total of to date of 7,426 adopted persons and 3,312 relatives applying to register.

The authority, the HSE and accredited adoption services routinely inform inquirers about the existence of the register and encourage anyone interested in tracing or gaining information to sign up. I am conscious of recent media coverage of the issue of information and tracing and I would hope that this will encourage more birth mothers in particular to access the contact preference register and where possible to consent to the release of information.

Work is continuing in relation to the preparation of the heads of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill. I am anxious to bring the heads of the Bill before Government at the earliest possible date. The constitutional and legal context within which the development of these legislative proposals must be undertaken is complex. I have agreed with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children that, once agreed by Government, the heads of Bill will be the subject of committee hearings so that the complex and sensitive issues involved can be the subject of public consideration.

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