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Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: 'First 5, the whole-of-Government strategy for babies, young children and their families' recognises that the workforce is at the heart of high-quality ELC. There is strong evidence about the relationship between staff qualifications and children’s experiences and outcomes. First 5 commits to building an appropriately skilled and sustainable professional workforce, and includes a...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Children First Guidelines (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: If the Deputy has a specific concern that a child may have been, is being or is at risk of being abused or neglected, he should report this concern to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency and An Garda Síochána without delay. The statutory bodies with primary responsibility for child welfare and protection are Tusla and An Garda Síochána. Both have distinct functions, powers...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Childcare Scheme is Ireland’s pathway to quality, accessible, affordable ELC and SAC. The Scheme provides a single, streamlined and more user-friendly scheme, and includes ‘wraparound’ care for pre-school and school-age children. The scheme seeks to address poverty traps that have been identified on a cross government basis. It is a key aspect of the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Poverty (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I believe that significant progress can be made through my Department’s coordination of the EU Child Guarantee, an important initiative which aims to combat social exclusion by guaranteeing access for children who are in need of a range of key services. The EU Child Guarantee calls on Member States to guarantee for children in need, free access to early childhood education and...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator. At all times in the work that has been ongoing on the Bill, including prior to the initial drafting of the general scheme, the detailed work that took place during pre-legislative scrutiny and the detailed Committee and Report Stages in Dáil Éireann, we have sought to clarify and strengthen the definitions contained in the legislation to ensure that as wide a...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator. They are covered. The people who can use this legislation are covered in the definition of "relevant person", which means a person who is one or more of the following: an adopted person; and a person who is or has reasonable grounds for suspecting that he or she is the subject of an incorrect birth registration. There is a third category that is not relevant to this...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The availability of information and information of different types on various issues is central to what this Bill is about. In discussing the first group of amendments, we referred to who may use this legislation. We are now talking about what they may look for and the type of information they may seek. As we know, there are rights to broad categories of information provided for in this...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: We could not get the names of other persons.

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I know the Senator is not pressing the amendment, but on the point on the vaccine trials, we must recall that on the substantive provisions to do with the release of information, it is about the release of information and a copy of the records on all the different headings. For example, section 15 refers to "Relevant body or Authority to provide medical information". I know it is not care...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator. My response will be somewhat similar to my response to the point she made about vaccines. Much of what she is seeking to address in the amendment is covered under the definition of “early life information”. That is where the matter is most appropriately addressed. The various pieces of information provided for under early life information, include, in...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is similar to the previous discussion. Section 11 relates to the "Relevant body to provide early life, care information or incorrect birth registration information on application by relevant person aged 18 years or over". Subsection (2) states that, subject to subsection (3), a relevant body on application to it made under this section "shall, to the extent that it is practicable to do...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will speak to amendments Nos. 9 to 13, inclusive. Amendment No. 9 seeks to include the words "medical information" in the definition of "early life information". What the Senator is proposing is not necessary. The information set out in this category gives clear direction to relevant bodies that health and medical information on the applicant can be released. The tripling or quadrupling...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I certainly think it helps and gives clarity in that circumstance of illegal birth registration. In terms of the release of the name, this is something on which I and the team in my Department have engaged extensively with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.It is something that has been raised at other stages of the debate on this legislation. We are talking about a balancing test that...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank all the Senators for their contributions on these amendments. Before I speak to amendments Nos. 56 to 61, inclusive, I want to say that Senator Boyhan is right to remind us all that, once this legislation is passed and operational and once adopted people are using its provisions, there are people who will be deeply disappointed because the information simply is not there. The...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: A detailed definition of "genetic relative" is set out in section 2. For other Senators, because Senator Higgins has asked the question, there is a detailed definition. "Genetic relative" means a full-blood or half-blood relative, which is a wide definition. I am happy to consider the question the Senator has asked.

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Senator might look at section 2, which states: For the purposes of this Act, a person (“first mentioned person”) is the subject of an incorrect birth registration where— (a) as a result of the giving of information that was false or misleading ... That element of "false or misleading" that the Senator mentioned earlier on is directly included in section 2 and...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank all of the Senators for their engagement on this point. I will seek to address all that was said. First, I wish to respond to Senator Warfield's comment that some people who are illegally adopted have no rights under this Bill. As Senator Seery Kearney said, that is just wrong. The very centre of Parts 8 and 9 is about dealing with the situation of those who were the subject of...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank Senator Boyhan for his comments. I, too, welcome this opportunity, which is longer perhaps in this House than the Committee Stage was in the other House. It is useful to tease through the issues. Specifically on Senator Higgins's point on using the word "or", I confirm that I specifically raised the issue of looking at "or" rather than having a pure substitution. Again, having...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I absolutely accept the sincerity in which all these amendments are offered. It is obviously any Senator's right to press an amendment. I think Senator Higgins and I are trying to achieve the same thing but whereas she is seeking to create two routes through the use of both "incorrect" and "illegal", I am seeking to broaden what we classify as incorrect by bringing in thee terms "false" and...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I believe the inclusion of those words achieves the recognition of both being false and the fact that it is misleading where there is a deliberate effort to mislead. It speaks to the points the Senator raised. I accept that she does not agree.