Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 90 of 15 May 2012, when she reported that work was underway preparing a proposed Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill, and that the Bill was part of the legislative programme for 2012 which she intended to bring it forward during 2012, if she will state the reason the Bill was not brought forward during 2012; and the progress made during the nine months since May 2012. [7571/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Work is continuing in the preparation of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill which will provide for a structured and regulated approach to providing access to adoption information and facililtate contact for those affected by adoption, including in circumstances where an adoption order was not effected. It is intended that the Bill will provide for the Adoption Authority to have access to all adoption records. The Bill will provide for a national index of adoption records to be maintained by the Adoption Authority containing information on the whereabouts of all known adoption records located within the State. Currently, they are located in many settings. It is envisaged that only the Adoption Authority, the Health Service Executive and accredited bodies will hold adoption records and that the Adoption Authority will have overall charge of these records. Much concern has been expressed that the records are held in many places. The Bill will ensure they are gathered together.

It is also intended that the Bill will provide for placing the National Contact Preference Register which is on a voluntary basis on a statutory basis. The purpose of the register is to allow persons affected by adoption to register their names with a view to receiving information on a person from whom they have been separated as a result of adoption and will allow for the registering of a preference as to whether they want to have contact with that person.

A national tracing service will be established, the operation of which will be subject to guidelines which will be set out in regulations. It is intended that the tracing service will be made available to adopted persons, birth parents and relatives, with the Adoption Authority having overarching responsibility for the service.

It is intended that prior to the release of adoption information, counselling will be offered by the Adoption Authority, the HSE or an accredited body to an adopted person, a birth parent or an adoptive parent if, in the opinion of the Adoption Authority, the HSE or an accredited body, such counselling would be beneficial in the circumstances or if such counselling is requested by the applicant seeking adoption information.

Consideration of the legal and policy issues involved is ongoing and once these have been satisfactorily resolved, I intend to seek Government approval to publish the heads of the Bill. It is my intention to bring the Bill before the Houses of the Oireachtas in 2013.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Complex issues have arisen during the course of preparation of the Bill, including the criteria for balancing an adopted person's right to information on his or her identity against a birth parent's right to privacy. My view is that persons affected by adoption should be provided with as much information as possible within permissible constitutional boundaries.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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As other Deputies mentioned, the question arises about the length of time it is taking for these issues to be processed. We tabled a question in May 2012, the reply to which indicated that the work was under way and that the heads of the Bill would be published in 2012, but nine months later we are still waiting for the Bill to be brought forward. I do not know whether the Minister saw the report in the newspapers on 13 January on people's testimonies, including on the experiences of Phil Lynott's mother and others in trying to trace their parents. This is not good enough. Since 1975 people in Britain have had access to their birth certificates, yet 40 years on people here are still waiting for that opportunity, about which they are very stressed. Their parents are getting older and they want to find them. Unfortunately, in some cases, they have passed on. I hope the heads of the Bill will be introduced in this term.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I take the point the Deputy is making. This issue has been ignored for decades, but I am determined to put an end to this. My view continues to be that an adopted person over the age of 18 years should have an unrestricted right to attain a copy of his or her birth certificate and that an adopted person under 18 years should have a qualified right, perhaps subject to the consent of his or her adoptive parents. However, unlike in the United Kingdom, serious constitutional issues arise. There is strong advice from a previous Attorney General that because of the constitutional position of the family, in respect of open access to birth certificates for adopted persons, constitutional difficulties arise. What I want to do and what I am discussing with the Attorney General is bring forward legislation that will give scope to adopted persons to track their records and have access to as much of the information as possible, but I will be limited in what I can do by constitutional constraints. The current Attorney General has been examining these issues also and advises me on these constitutional limitations. We are in a different situation from that in the North of Ireland or elsewhere in the United Kingdom, which we must keep in mind. I want to bring forward legislation as strong as I possibly can make it, but the judgment in a Supreme Court case in the 1980s made it very clear that the mother's right to privacy would have to be balanced against the adopted person's right to know.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Obviously, the constitutional issue has to be addressed, but the National Adoption Contact Preference Register is available-----

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Yes.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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-----to try to put the framework in place for those persons who do not want their information to be given out. However, it is important that individuals should have access to their parental history, including their medical history and so on. There should not be a delay in bringing forward the general legislation the Minister wants to introduce; it should be brought forward quickly. Does she envisage that because of the constitutional problems the issue could continue for longer or less robust legislation being forward brought this year?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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It is my intention that the legislation will be brought forward this year. I do not have any doubt about this, but I am alerting the Deputy to the constitutional difficulties inherent in producing the legislation. Obviously, I will bring forward the strongest possible legislation, but there are clear constitutional constraints. Having access to medical records is critical, but whether this can be provided for, within the confines of the Constitution, remains to be seen. It is extremely difficult, given the constitutional position on the family, to have the open access to information the Deputy desires and to which adoptive persons ought to have access. It is a complex issue, but work is being done on the legislation which I will bring to the House. Last week I met a number of people who, unfortunately, had been the victims of illegal registrations. That is another serious issue we must address.