Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support this Bill. One issue officials are wrestling with is how to protect the privacy of birth parents who do not wish to be known or to be contacted by children who were given up for adoption many years ago. The change that is almost certainly coming is that their rights of privacy will no longer trump the rights of adopted people to know their birth identities.

For people who were illegally adopted at birth, either without the full consent of their birth mothers or who had their birth certificates falsified, there is another potentially insurmountable barrier to the discovery of their natural parentage and the access to their documents where the records are intact. However, a right to access in law is now proposed, although previous Governments cited constitutional difficulties. The Minister said he will have the heads of legislation prepared by early April. This will establish the right to use the GDPR avenue to access birth and early life records.

We all know the debacle of the mother and baby homes, the survivors and the need they have to know their stories. We know how the mothers involved want to know where their babies were sent and where the babies, now adults, want to know their history and from where they came. For decades, successive Governments have chosen to ignore the needs of adopted people. We are running out of time to heal the damage done. This Bill would mean adoptees can access their birth certificates, something for which they have been fighting hard. It is an issue which large numbers of my constituents in Cork South-West have asked me to support. I will certainly be doing so.

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