Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the amendment and thank the Minister for setting out in such detail the extent of the public information campaign. It is some years since this was first mooted and discussed as part of the process of achieving an effective legislative framework on birth information. I am pleased it is at such an advanced stage. I am also pleased that the stakeholder advisory group and NALA are involved, as well as the weighting of the international component, which is clearly very important.

I echo the comments of Deputies Cairns and Funchion about their regret on the mandatory information session. We rehearsed those points in this House and in the committee and it was also debated in the Seanad. There is a significant amount to be positive about in the Bill in terms of the framework it is establishing to enable adopted persons to access their information. The public information campaign will be a hugely important part of making that effective. I thank the Minister for that.

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