Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Deputy's very important question. I attended the conference to which he referred. His specific question regards a more open approach to the adoption process, that being either semi or fully open. These issues have been on my mind and in my heart since beginning work on the Adoption (Amendment) Act and, in particular, as we have been working on the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2017. Many of these issues were raised in the context of the Adoption (Amendment) Act but we had to refer most questions regarding the openness of our process to be considered and dealt with in so far as possible in the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill. These are complicated issues upon which to move. I believe that the process should be as open as possible and, as Minister, I have pushed that view as far as I can. We are currently working on amendments to the Bill that will be brought forward on Committee Stage. It has been a challenging process.

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