Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 8, to delete lines 13 to 15 and substitute the following: “(b) born in the State and—

(i) placed for adoption outside the State by An Bord Uchtála, a person who was at the time a registered adoption society, the Authority or the Agency, or

(ii) removed from the State by any other person for the purpose of the effecting of his or her adoption outside the State, and whose adoption was effected outside the State,”.

This is an amendment that flows from the discussions we had on Committee Stage and some issues raised by the Opposition which I committed to examine. This amendment specifically ensures that we have the greatest possible clarity in terms of the definition of an "adopted person". I am bringing forward this amendment to ensure absolute clarity that any child born in Ireland and adopted abroad is included in the Bill. While this was always the intention, I understand that, in some cases, private arrangements were made without the involvement of an accredited body or an adoption authority. I want to ensure that, in all cases, a child born in Ireland who was sent for adoption abroad is included.

Therefore, I propose the definition of an "adopted person" be amended to include a person removed from the State by any other person for the purposes of effecting his or her adoption outside of the State and whose adoption was effected outside the State. The amendment seeks to recognise the many informal types of arrangements that may subsequently have been formalised and may not have been operated through a body like the Adoption Authority of Ireland, or An Bord Uchtála, as it was then, and other agencies. I am trying to keep the definitions broad so that as many people as possible may use the Bill. The broader we keep the definitions, the more people who can use the provisions of the Bill and subsequently get the various types of information provided for in it.

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