Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I recognise that point. In some cases, the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 will deal with those circumstances. As Deputy O'Sullivan noted, there are children who will be perfectly aware of their past and the family which previously raised them and who will have a desire to access them. I recognise that no rights are absolute under the Constitution. If the Minister sees fit, I would be more than happy to accept a regulatory framework or a provision for regulations to underline and qualify an important statutory right.

The point being made was that the child does not have an unqualified right. As things stand, the child does not have any statutory right. It is entirely subject upon agreement between the adoptive parents and the previous parents of the child.

The legislation is good and it speaks to the rights of the child to be heard. However, in this instance the child has no agency. The child has no right to access where his adoptive parents are unwilling to co-operate. Of course there will be circumstances in which there might well be dissension, but that does not necessarily mean the child should be deprived of the right to see the family. The child may well have happy memories of the family or may well have close connections.

It is not good enough to fail to provide any statutory right whatsoever. I am more than willing to consider regulations to underline or qualify that, but I believe such a statutory right is important.

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