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Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: This section is one of the most significant elements of the Bill. It speaks to one of the key issues raised by adopted people, namely, that they are denied information about their medical history that could be relevant to their health and that this occurs because they do not know who their parents are and they do not know their family medical history. It is very important to remember what...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: On the definition of "relevant", the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has the power to draft guidelines on the definition. I have spoken about that power previously with regard to securing and ensuring the interpretation given by the bodies applying these provisions is as broad a definition as possible and moving all of these bodies into a culture of...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Children aged under 16 are not directly covered by the Bill. This issue was raised by the Office of the Ombudsman for Children. We have stated that we will, in future, consider the position of children under the age of 16. We have made provision for children aged 16 and 17 to gain access to their information but the Ombudsman for Children is of the view that the younger the child, the...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: As I read them, what this group of amendments is seeking to do is to remove the requirement to provide the relevant medical information to the relevant medical practitioner, who will then provide it to the relevant person. I see that as what this set of amendments aims to do. Turning to the Deputy's point concerning consistency in this context, she is right that it is vital and that is...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I want to get these guidelines published as quickly as possible, but I am not sure if it will be possible to have them ready in their entirety before Report Stage. The team has been focused on addressing the significant body of work in front of the committee now. We can look perhaps at getting some draft heads of the guidelines for the committee, or something like that. We will do our best...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Guidelines cannot be officially published until the legislation is enacted. As I said, however, we will endeavour to get drafts of the guidelines to the committee. It must be recognised, though, that those will only be drafts of the guidelines and that they will be subject to change, but we can listen to the views of the committee in that regard as well. To reiterate, what we will be...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: These deal specifically with guidelines. I have given a commitment to try to make available draft heads of guidelines to Deputies in advance of Report Stage.

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The drafting of the ministerial guidelines and release of medical information on a genetic relative is provided for under the section. Section 16(7) states the Minister may consult such persons as he or she considers appropriate. In the context of the release of medical information, consultation with medical experts would involve the person most relevant, including in the sense of having...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I move amendment No. 200: In page 25, to delete line 6 and substitute "be, and".

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I move amendment No. 201: In page 25, to delete lines 7 to 10 and substitute the following: "(b) the fact that— (i) the parent concerned has exercised his or her entitlement under section 38(11)to state that he or she is not willing to be contacted by the relevant person, and (ii) the making of that statement by the parent constitutes an exercise by him or her of his or her...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: We made a decision when bringing forward this legislation that we did not want to define just for those people aged 18 and above and we wanted to recognise that younger people who were adopted also have an interest in their birth and early life information. We wanted to make provision for that. Issues are different when we are not dealing with adults and we engaged quite significantly. In...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: This legislation already makes it clear that copies of relevant records will be provided in all circumstances and this is already provided for in the Bill. As such, this amendment is not necessary.

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The existing provisions of the Bill allow for the release of records and emphasise that copies of the records will be released in all situations.

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: No. I have responded to similar amendments already.

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I agree with Deputy Funchion on that. The Bill already provides that all information that is there will be made available to a relevant person who seeks it.

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: This section refers to another significant improvement of the legislation between the initial heads of the Bill and the final draft following the pre-legislative scrutiny, PLS, process, which is to provide a relevant person who is an adopted person with medical information about a deceased relative. Again this is important information and where it is available it should be provided but...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: This group of amendments relates to section 27 under Part 4. That section provides for the release of the birth information of a child who died in an institution to a qualifying relative. This speaks again to an issue that came up during the pre-legislative scrutiny process about information relating to children who died in institutions. That was not provided for under the original draft...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I absolutely do not accept the Deputy's suggestion that I am trying to discredit anyone. Where a right to information is provided in the next section I do not see a need to provide the same right in two separate sections. I do not see any necessity or any legal purpose in doing that.

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I have a similar response. I want to put on record that section 27 provides for the release of birth information. Section 28 provides for the release of early life information, care information or incorrect birth registration information. Section 30 provides for the release of medical information. Section 29 provides for the release of provided items. Each set of information provided...