Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am taken aback that the Taoiseach did not answer my very specific question about why there has been a delay in legislating for this matter. I did not want prepared soundbites or a prepared script. I asked for a specific answer. In 2010, the Adoption Authority of Ireland conducted an audit on this issue. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has commented negatively on our failure to legislate to facilitate access to information and tracing and to vindicate the right of children to know their identities.

I agree 100% with uncovering the past. I have no difficulty with that whatsoever. However, we have failed over the past number of years, by the Government's failure to bring forward the legislation and bring it through, to look after the rights of children born today. Children born today do not have an automatic right to a birth certificate, to their identity and to tracing health information that could be vital to their well-being. We need to deal urgently with the present and future generations as well as dealing with the past.

I just wanted to ask a basic question. Having gone through seven or eight drafts, the Bill was published in 2016. What issue is delaying it? Why the lack of urgency in bringing this Bill through?

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