Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Sorry. I will speak to amendment No. 58 now then. The amendment states: "When a relevant person applies under sections 11and 12for information and/or when a relevant person applies for their personal data, the relevant body or the Authority will make available all medical records to the relevant person regardless of whether they have explicitly requested those items." This amendment is important to ensure that all medical records are made available to the relevant person.

A key theme of the pre-legislative scrutiny was that relevant people would be empowered to access as much of their information as possible. As currently worded, the Bill may be interpreted by the Adoption Authority of Ireland, Tusla or other bodies to provide only information that has been explicitly sought rather than all information, which, in the case of medical records, may have incredibly important details for the person's health. Given the draconian approach of State bodies and other entities to releasing information, it is necessary the Bill includes this type of explicit obligation. There is a well-founded distrust of the State on these matters and, in particular, of the Adoption Authority of Ireland and Tusla. As legislators, we need to guarantee that no one will be denied access to their information and that information will not be merely withheld without being denied.

When discussing this on Committee Stage, the Minister presented the spurious argument that this amendment seeks to force medical detail on people who have not requested it. Nowhere, at any stage, did any group or stakeholder even raise the prospect that they would ever be concerned by receiving too much information. Each and every affected person is continuing to fight for access to information. This amendment provides some assurances regarding their medical information.

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