Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept what Deputy Troy has said. However, I again advise him as to the complexity involved and I do not make this point lightly. Earlier, I referred to the Supreme Court case and if Members will indulge me, I must state the advice from the Attorney General indicates that any right to know one's own identity, such as was found in a legal judgment in the case I mentioned earlier, flows from the legal relationship between birth mother and her child. The advice states that the effect of an adoption order is to sever the parent-child relationship, thus eliminating the basis of the right to know. When Deputy Troy stated that in his view, this was a fundamental and basic right, this is the point at which I am unsure whether the legal position is as absolute as he or perhaps most Members would wish. There may not be a constitutional right on the part of any person adopted under the Adoption Act 2010 - or indeed going back to the 1952 Act - to know the identity of his or her birth mother. As Members are aware, the mother has an effective veto on the disclosure of information.

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