Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that the Minister was pulled in different directions on this and that he was constrained by legal and constitutional issues. However, I have a general problem with the advice of the Attorney General not being published. If there is a constitutional impediment it should be addressed if we are to put the right of children to their identity first. This is another argument in favour of changing the Constitution but that said, I acknowledge the good elements of the Bill and am aware that most people in the adoption community believe that the Minister's handling of this legislation has been very positive. The key outstanding issue is the age profile of the people involved. Half of those who were adopted since 1922 have passed away. Given that their natural mothers are considerably older, at least by 20 years, a delay of a year will mean that hundreds of potential reunifications will be lost. I ask the Minister to consider reducing the period to between 30 and 60 days and to conduct a much more intensive information campaign. He should refocus the resources that were to be spent over the course of a year and hone them into a shorter period so we can facilitate people achieving a connection that many of them have long sought.

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