Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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11. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason for the lack of progress and the inordinate delays experienced by adopted persons attempting to trace their birth mothers and mothers trying to trace their born children; and her plans to resolve this matter. [47753/13]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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This question is essentially about the rights of adopted people and the delays they are experiencing in accessing information about their birth mothers, or vice versa where mothers are seeking information about their children. The problem is twofold. First, there is a problem with accessing the existing files. Second, there is a delay in legislative changes, which have been promised since the Government was elected. There is also frustration about some of the religious orders denying people access to that information.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am conscious of the concerns of those who are seeking information about their birth mother or a child given up at birth. The existing arrangements for those seeking access to information reflect a transition from complex and historical situations and I am anxious that the HSE implement much more improved and consistent arrangements for people in such circumstances. Quite a number of actions have taken place and I wish to inform the House about them.

Approximately 25,000 files have been transferred to the HSE regional adoption service in Cork. We did not have any national approach to these files until after the Adoption Act 2010. We now have 25,000 files in Cork from the Sacred Heart Adoption Society, which had responsibility for Bessboro, County Cork; Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea, County Tipperary, and Castlepollard, County Westmeath. The HSE also has records that include those for St. Anne’s Adoption Society, St. Mary’s Adoption Society in Kerry, Ard Mhuire, in Dunboyne in County Meath, Limerick Catholic Adoption Society, St. Patrick's Mother and Baby Home, Navan Road in Dublin, St. Louise's Adoption Society in Dublin, the Dublin Health Authority Board of Assistance, the Rotunda Girls Aid Society, the Ossory Kilkenny Adoption Society, and St. Kevin's and St. John's adoption societies.

The HSE is also in negotiations regarding files from Holles Street, St. Brigid's, and St. Patrick's Guild. Furthermore Pact, which is an agency accredited under the Act, has records of various Protestant organisations. A comprehensive list of records held, and their locations, is available on the HSE website.

In order to deal with the point the Deputy raises, the HSE has also put in place a plan to redistribute records from individual institutions to the various adoption teams around the country in a concerted effort to reduce waiting times. The HSE is also in the process of reorganising the information and tracing system to allocate social work resources countrywide in a way that will allow for reduced waiting times across the country.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The HSE has advised me that, in the first instance, any person seeking information on adoption, or an illegal registration of a birth, should contact the Adoption Authority of Ireland or the HSE community services which will assist in directing them to the personnel dealing with their particular records. The HSE is working to provide a more streamlined service and to ensure that inquiries in regard to information and tracing are handled as quickly as possible.

The national adoption contact preference register was established in 2005 to help adopted people and their natural families to make contact with each other, exchange information or state their contact preferences. They decide, through a range of information and contact options, how they wish to proceed. The Adoption Authority of Ireland has responsibility for the operation of the national adoption contact preference register. The authority has stated that there were 796 applications in 2011, 542 in 2012 and 526 to end September 2013, with a cumulative total of to date of 7,426 adopted persons and 3,312 relatives applying to register.

The authority, the HSE and accredited adoption services routinely inform inquirers about the existence of the register and encourage anyone interested in tracing or gaining information to sign up. I am conscious of recent media coverage of the issue of information and tracing and I would hope that this will encourage more birth mothers in particular to access the contact preference register and where possible to consent to the release of information.

Work is continuing in relation to the preparation of the heads of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill. I am anxious to bring the heads of the Bill before Government at the earliest possible date. The constitutional and legal context within which the development of these legislative proposals must be undertaken is complex. I have agreed with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children that, once agreed by Government, the heads of Bill will be the subject of committee hearings so that the complex and sensitive issues involved can be the subject of public consideration.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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There is a great deal of information in that response and I respect the Minister's bona fides on this issue but that said, and sincerely meant, there are inordinate delays in this process. Two years ago, in an answer to a parliamentary question, the Minister told me about the Sacred Heart files being transferred to Glanmire. She has now confirmed that there are another 11 institutions whose records have been transferred. There were over 42 mother and baby homes and there are tens of thousands of people whose identities are wrapped up in that information.

I gave the Taoiseach information a couple of weeks ago about somebody who had searched the files for decades and been frustrated in accessing that information but who was able to get it within ten days with the assistance of the Adoption Rights Alliance. Would the Minister consider enlisting the help of volunteers such as the alliance who have been pioneers in this situation? I also need to know where the legislation is in this regard because we have been too subservient to the 1998 court judgment about consent. We could be much more proactive in delivering some of that legislation.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I will make two points in response to the Deputy's questions. I will speak about the legislation in a moment. I take the Deputy's point about work done by voluntary organisations. I have met them and am very happy to work with them but we have a national adoption contact preference register. That is the best place for mothers and for adoptees who want to trace their families. They can put their information onto the national adoption contact preference register. To date, the cumulative total on that is only 7,426 adopted persons and 3,312 relatives applying to register. One can contrast that with the number of files I have mentioned today, 25,000, which is not the total number of files. We certainly need to ensure that everybody who wants to trace and make contact with their families is at the very least applying through the HSE or the Adoption Authority of Ireland to have their names on the national adoption contact preference register because that is the first step.

As regards the legislation, I have very serious legal advice that suggests that retrospective information is not constitutional in this country.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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The Ministers reply raises two problems, first, far too many people have come forward with their experience of being frustrated when they sought to find their identity for it to be a coincidence. It is clear that there is a problem in the system. My office alone receives contact from many people who have been deliberately frustrated. The Minister's reply to questions I have tabled have acknowledged that the volume of inquiries in Glanmire was so great that the centre could not grapple with it. I do not know if that is a resources or a blocking issue.

Second, the answers to questions about legislation have changed over the past few years. Two years ago we were told it was close to completion but now we are told there are serious legal problems but the only case is that of 1998 the judgment which many people believe is seriously flawed. Given the stories which even in the past week have hit the airwaves about the many women who did not give consent, or whose documents were forged, it seems to me that the whole area of so-called privacy could be better tested.

They have a decent humane system in other countries where people have access to their identities. It is not complex and we can do the same here.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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It is different here because we have a Constitution that respects privacy and there are real issues in this regard. My approach to the legislation has been to make it as broad as possible in order that people can access information. These are the instructions I have been given and that is the way I have been working. I have been getting legal advice all the way through and I intend to publish the heads of the legislation and refer it to committee in order that the constitutional and other issues can be addressed. We can hear from all the non-governmental organisations involved in the area and have a full airing of the issue. It is a matter of great public concern. There are strict legal parameters. It is not only about the 1998 case. It is also about recent European court rulings that have respected the right to privacy. The legal advice I have currently suggests that retrospective information is a difficult matter within the parameters of our Constitution.

Having said that, I am keen to make the point that there should not be deliberate frustrating of anyone who seeks to get birth information where consent has been given. I gather these are the cases to which Deputy Daly is referring in particular. That is unacceptable. The HSE is working to ensure greater access for people to the data and the executive is organising the data in the way I have outlined.