Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin and Deputy Funchion for bringing forward this Bill. Under the Data Protection Act and the GDPR, data being held by the State relating to persons should be given to adoptees. The Government must explain why this data is being held. Copies of information the held should be given to adoptees. This would be their entitlement under Article 15.3 of the GDPR.

In 2019, some 71 requests from adoptees looking for their birth certificates were confirmed by the Adoption Authority of Ireland. This Bill is badly needed. It will facilitate the provision of information to and tracing access for adoptees. Ensuring that adoptees can access their own birth certificates is a vital first step to meeting their basic rights. The right to access such records is already in place in the North and Britain. Why are we always last to do something? For people to know their family and birth information is a basic right. Again, we are on the back foot. It is time that this Bill is passed for adoptees. I have many friends who were adopted. They have families of their own. They only want the basic information that their own children and families have. It is a basic right. I commend Deputy Funchion on bringing this Bill forward.

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