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

This amendment is to section 70, the section that provides for a review of the operation of the Act. Seanad amendment No. 4 seeks to expand section 70 to provide further clarity on the composition of the review in terms of confirming that it will include consultation with relevant persons and other persons affected by this legislation, as appropriate.

This amendment also guarantees that the review will be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. On Report Stage in the Dáil, I introduced an amendment to reduce the timeframe for review to two years, and this amendment further supports the aim to ensure that the implementation of this legislation into the future is robustly monitored with a view to improvement where necessary. I hope that speaks to some of the points Deputy Funchion made.

Members of both Houses of the Oireachtas have spoken at length on the realities of people seeking and receiving information regarding their birth and early life. I would like to put on the record my sincere gratitude for this level of debate, which has highlighted both the challenges and the realities people face in this regard. We all know that for far too long people who were adopted or boarded out and who had their birth illegally registered could not access the most basic identity information that the rest of us in the population take for granted.

Upon taking office, I made it clear that this legislation and the rights that it extends were a priority for me. While establishing these rights in Irish law is fundamental to a fair and equal society, it is nevertheless challenging. These challenges are well documented, and they have been discussed in the series of attempts to legislate for this issue over a number of decades. This Bill has benefitted from six sessions in the Dáil, eight sessions in the Seanad and more than 30 hours of debate this year alone. Such debate is right and proper for legislation that is of this degree of significance. However, throughout these years, and the many attempts to legislate for this issue, the questions of identity and origin persisted for so many citizens and members of the wider Irish diaspora. That was often at great personal cost to individuals.

I have spoken to many people who have been impacted by this legislation, as I know Members across the House have done. They told me about the impact the lack of information and the lack of access to that fundamental information about their own identity has had on them. We can never truly know the deeply personal impact that has had on individuals, but I hope this legislation can ease the impact. I hope they will see that today belongs to them. We know that, unfortunately for some people, the information that exists may be limited, incomplete or inaccurate. This reminds us all of how important the support and counselling services in place for people will be. We are determined to support people to answer questions that remain unanswered to date.

This is why at every juncture throughout this legislative process I have sought to find a way to provide what has been asked for to the greatest extent possible. In October, when all affected persons will be able to avail of these new provisions that will allow unfettered access to their birth information, we will be able to see the positive, real-world impact of this legislation, which stands as one strand and one form of the State's redress.

Work remains to be done. We know that generational wrongs from our recent past are still living memories for many of our citizens. The State must continue to listen to, learn from and act restoratively towards those it left out in the cold for far too long. This evening, however, I am optimistic this legislation will provide some comfort and hope for many of our citizens.

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