Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party will be supporting the Sinn Féin Bill. It so happens that the Labour Party also has a Bill on this very issue which is winding its way through the Seanad as we speak. The Labour Party Bill, which is very similar to the Sinn Féin Bill, comes with a proposal by the Government to issue its own Bill so, in effect, we will have three Bills on this very issue before long. That speaks volumes about the intent of the Houses of the Oireachtas to legislate for this issue. We would hope that, ultimately, common ground will be found on the three Bills in order that the issue can be properly dealt with.

Our Bill seeks to carry out the expressed wishes of survivors of mother and baby homes and other adopted persons. My colleague, Senator Ivana Bacik, has spoken to this very issue in the Seanad. I am using her words when I say there is an urgent need to legislate for robust and effective information and tracing rights for adopted persons. Successive Governments have spent years examining how best to formulate such legislation.

Our short Bill, similar to the Sinn Féin Bill, would enable adopted persons to obtain the information necessary to access their birth certificates. There has never been an absolute ban on providing this information enabling a link to be made between the register of births and the register of adoptions. The adoption authority and the courts have always been entitled to order the production of records that enabled an applicant to trace the link. We are aware of the arguments made about the need to balance the right of adopted persons to access their birth information with the privacy rights of birth mothers but current State policy is skewed towards privacy rights.

Currently, unless a natural mother has indicated her preference for contact, her presumed wish for secrecy overrides the adopted adult's right to know his or her identity. In essence, I think we all wish to legislate for that, hence our supporting the Sinn Féin Bill. We hope for reciprocal support from Sinn Féin and indeed Government support for our Bill as it winds its way through the Seanad. We await the Government's proposal and hope the Minister will make haste on that. I know he is very active on this issue.

The important point to note is that these Bills cater only for validly adopted people who can access the information held in the register. The Minister spoke to that issue. This will do nothing for the recently highlighted cohort of illegally or invalidly adopted people because there are no accessible records in the register or with the Adoption Authority of Ireland relating to them. I want to use my time to speak to that very issue. I listened to the Minister on "Morning Ireland" earlier and I note his intention in respect of the publication of the Independent Review Report into Illegal Birth Registrations and his proposal, as I understand it, that he call on the special rapporteur, Professor Conor O'Mahony, "to consider and propose next steps". The question on our minds is this: what does the Minister envisage this process will yield? The Minister also stated:

Neither AAI nor Tusla was able to identify a unique marker which was suggestive of incorrect birth registration, similar to that found in the St. Patrick Guild's cases. While the sampling review of the files did identify some potential markers or wording suggestive of markers, both agencies reported that they were unable to establish 'clear evidence of incorrect birth registrations'.

If based on a sample taken now or recently the Adoption Authority of Ireland and Tusla were unable to find clear evidence of incorrect birth registrations, what is the point - I am not suggesting there is no point - of moving towards an independent review by the special rapporteur if it yields the same end result?

We welcome the Minister's thinking on this matter because it is important to do it, but I am thinking beyond that now. There is no doubting the bona fides of Professor O'Mahony, let me put that on the record, and we certainly welcome the process. It is to take six months, as I understand it. Beyond that, however, if, at the end of the process, Professor O'Mahony comes to the same conclusions, where will we go from there? I am left thinking that the only solution is a full public inquiry whereby potentially all the files, not just a sample, can be audited. There may be an argument against that. If there is, I certainly would like to hear it. However, in light of the report on the mother and baby homes and in light of a clear wish on the part of the Houses of the Oireachtas to deal with all these issues in an open and transparent way in order that they are not left to be dealt with by future generations of Deputies and Senators, why not have a public inquiry in respect of the independent review into illegal birth registrations and open it all up in a transparent way such that every file is examined in order that everybody can be satisfied and there can be no doubt about the State's reaction to this very important issue?

It is something that has crossed my mind. I am fearful that if Professor O'Mahony comes to the same conclusions as the independent review, it will leave many people extremely disappointed. Time and tide waits for no man or woman and people are getting older. Therefore, should we not now consider the idea of a full public inquiry into this in order that all of the files can be examined fully, not just a sample? I do not profess to have the wisdom of Solomon on this issue, but I fear that it may not be concluded thereafter. Will we end up telling people that there is absolutely no way that the State can interrogate every single illegal adoption and there is no mechanism open to the State to do that but that we should hold a full-scale public inquiry into this issue in order that we can satisfy ourselves, as well as everybody who has been impacted by illegal adoption, that the State has done everything within its wherewithal to examine and interrogate every single issue related to it? I am not calling for it; I am merely suggesting it as a potential course of action. We will await and see the results of the process put in place by the Minister in respect of the appointment of the special rapporteur to consider and propose the next steps. However, it would be good to hear from the Minister as to what those next steps will be. The Minister and his officials will have some view as to what the next steps will be. The Minister will not be whole dependent on the special rapporteur; he will also have his own views on this issue. I suppose that is where we are going with this.

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