Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

An féidir leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach m'ainm a chur síos le haghaidh Questions on Promised Legislation?

It is absolutely outrageous that after all the debates, documentaries, reports and commissions that have happened people still do not know who exactly they are and cannot access their birth and medical records. People are growing old wondering if their mother is still alive. They are being asked daily by doctors about their family health histories and are facing into serious health issues, and they simply do not know. There are small matters such as people accessing insurance or bank accounts being asked for their date of birth. They do not know the answer, and each time they are asked, the reality of what the system has done to them hits home. For many people, Tusla, the HSE and the State bodies know the answers to their questions but will not share this information with survivors. Under any understanding of this, that is absolutely outrageous. The major question for the Government is why this has happened.

I will be honest. I am worried that the Minister with responsibility for children has been captured by his Department. I believe that there has been significant resistance within the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to do the right thing by these people who have suffered so much. I understand that some individuals within the Department do not want to investigate these illegal adoptions. I also understand that the Department has had in its possession many files on illegal adoption but, in the past, has not shared these files with previous Ministers.

Many people are frustrated about the report of the commission but fail to see that the commission was not asked properly to investigate the illegal adoptions. The issue of illegal birth registrations was omitted from the terms of reference of the mother and baby home commission investigation in 2014. Why was this? If we seek to find out the source of the problems here, we need to answer this particular question. The terms of reference were dealt with within the Department at that time. It took six months to draft and yet it did not directly seek to investigate this issue. My understanding is that the Government has, perhaps, finally woken up to the resistance within the Department. I further understand that the Minister is outsourcing the drafting of this legislation. Why is that the case? This is very unusual. It is not the norm. I believe it will cost €250,000 for the Government to do this. Why is it being done? Perhaps the Minister could answer that question.

The issue of outsourcing is important. To whom is the drafting of this legislation being outsourced? Even after all this, the Minister was on the radio this morning and he equivocated on the question of whether the new legislation would actually give people access to information. The Minister has the adoption orders. I understand that he could release those adoption orders to these individuals. People have said that perhaps it is not constitutional. If, however, the new Bill the Minister is drafting seeks to do roughly the same thing and is constitutional, it will be possible now to give those adoption orders to these individuals who so desperately seek them.

I welcome that the Government has published a review into illegal adoptions. The fact is not lost in anybody that this was commissioned in 2018, however. The idea that the review was completed but not brought to Cabinet or published at the time, and was only published after RTÉ ran an expose on illegal adoptions last week, is not lost on anybody.

What is the driving force behind that timeline? Is it the Government, the Minister or the Department? No. The key driving force is the media's exposé of these shocking occurrences. Either the Minister is a driver in the context of directing his Department, seeking to make sure that these issues are resolved for people, or he is a passenger in that particular vehicle. The Minister has a serious question to ask himself in this regard.

It is our job to hold the political establishment to account. It is also our job, as elected representatives, to hold Departments to account. There are many fine people in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. There are many individuals who want to achieve what is being slowly achieved in Leinster House. There is no doubt that the new political space we are in with regard to this issue is helping to drive that agenda within the Department. We also have to hold Departments and senior staff within them to account on these key issues, however. In many ways, they are the permanent government. It is radically important that those who comprise the permanent government do what the elected representatives of this country ask and tell them to do. If it is the reverse, we are never going to get to the bottom of these scandals. We will never be able to resolve these key human questions for the many people who still do not know exactly who they are. Will the Minister make sure that he is involved in driving that agenda in the future?

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