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

I move amendment No. 65:

In page 33, to delete line 27.

This is a particularly important group of amendments. Deputy Bacik referred to them earlier. They provide for further services for persons who believe that their birth was illegally registered. These are services that are recommended by the special rapporteur for child protection, Professor Conor O'Mahony, in the report which he submitted to me last October and which I published in March of this year. The special rapporteur set out 17 recommendations in his report. These amendments give effect to recommendations 8 to 12, which were to create a specialist tracing service to undertake a review and a full trace of files where Tusla had previously found suspicious markers. The recommendations also seek an expedited review for persons who hold reasonable suspicions that they may have been the subject of an illegal birth registration in order to ascertain whether their birth was illegally registered.

To give full effect to these recommendations, amendments Nos. 65 to 67, inclusive, amend section 32 to include a new type of trace for persons who have reasonable grounds for suspecting that their birth is illegally registered. This is for that category of people and many of us have met them. They are not part of the St. Patrick's Guild group but they may have been told by a family member that their parent was not their birth parent. They may have stumbled across a piece of information. There are various reasons people may have a very real and meaningful suspicion that they may be the subject of an illegal birth registration. With these provisions, not only are they allowed to use the legislation to find information but the tracing service allows them to get clarity on the fact as to whether they were the subject of an illegal birth registration. The proposed new subsection will empower a person to request that Tusla or the authority use its tracing powers to ascertain whether the person's birth was illegally registered. This will mean a thorough review and inquiry can happen for those people who have reason to believe their birth was illegally registered. I hope this will finally give answer and closure to people in that situation.

Separately, amendments are proposed to section 33, with amendments Nos. 69 to 72, inclusive, being consequential amendments. They provide for a similar but slightly separate measure. They ensure that the Minister can direct Tusla or the authority to undertake a review of files or to trace a person in situations where it is to be established whether an illegal birth registration has taken place. Where this is established, they further empower the Minister to direct Tusla or the authority to trace the person in order to inform them that they are the subject of an illegal birth registration. Tusla and the authority will have the power to share information with each other and to seek information from the bodies listed in section 34(6) in order to establish whether an illegal birth registration occurred. This was a key recommendation from Professor O'Mahony. It is quite a significant power but it gives the power, too, where there is a very strong suspicion discovered not by an individual but by Tusla or the Adoption Authority of Ireland that someone has been the subject of an illegal birth registration. It allows a trace to be undertaken to confirm that and it allows the individual to be informed. It is about validating the key right to identity that has been denied to people who have been subject to illegal birth registrations. It is an important recommendation of Professor O'Mahony and one we are happy to be able to put into legislation here and put into operation through our additional resourcing of Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland.

To summarise, these amendments provide for three key matters. First, they empower a person to apply for an inquiry to be undertaken to ascertain whether their birth was illegally registered where that is the person's wish. Second, they provide that review of files can take place where this is in the public interest. Third, they ensure that a person can be traced to inform them that their birth was illegally registered.

See this speech in context