Results 1-20 of 35 for at segment:8268495

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 1: In page 8, line 15, after “State” to insert “and placed for adoption outside the State”. In the context of amendments Nos. 1 and 2, the concern is that, as currently constructed in the Bill, the definition of "adopted person" under the section seems to only include persons whose adoptions were facilitated by the Adoption Board, a...

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)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister. I am glad. I recognise the change on Report Stage in the Dáil that relates to amendments Nos. 1 and 2. In light of that, I am going to consider the legislation again to determine whether I feel it satisfies what I am seeking to achieve in amendments Nos. 1 and 2. I believe it may. In that context, I will not press the amendments but reserve the right to...

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)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In terms of the record, again the danger might be that it is a record of vaccination, but we can come back to vaccination trials on Report Stage. There is something different in terms of the records of vaccine trials versus the records of routine vaccinations. That might need elaboration, but I am not going to press the amendment. Because it is such an interlocking Bill, there are...

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)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 9: In page 10, line 29, before “information” to insert “medical information, including”. Amendment No. 9 is just a slight change-around with regard to medical information. At the moment, the line under subsection (f) says-----

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: Fair enough. There will probably have to be a bit of back and forth because that clump actually deals with quite different topics. That is why I was surprised by the grouping. In terms of amendment No. 9, at the moment under subsection (f) it refers to "information on any medical treatments, procedures or vaccinations administered to him or her." I am specifying that it should refer to...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is a very large group and they are quite different topics. I find the Minister's response unacceptable. The definition of "genetic relative", and the Minister did not address the question, includes full-blood or half-blood relative. That is not a very wide definition. I do not understand why there is still this lingering theme of how much it can be shut down. It is still there in that...

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)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be frank with the Minister; that is completely wrong. It is the same argument I had back in 2017 when I listened to the exact same discussions about birth certificates. I sat in ministerial offices hearing advice from Ministers. This was back when there was the assumption of a preference for privacy versus identity, with the assumption being made wrongly and, in fact, interfering...

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

Victor Boyhan: I will be brief. We have a lot of work ahead of us this afternoon. I will follow on from Senator Higgins's point, especially in respect of amendments Nos. 56 and 57. In the context of all this, we have to remember there is perhaps not as much information held as we might like to think or wish for. I will share some experiences. As I said to the Minister the other day, I am one of seven...

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

Victor Boyhan: I want to come back to the point Senator Seery Kearney made. I agree with her and she has articulated her point well. I was just touching on some examples but I agree with her that it is about managing that expectation and being responsible. In time, when this process starts to unravel, we will eventually know the institutions that kept forensic records. I could tell the Senator 20 of...

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)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister has said he will consider the question. My concern does not relate only to the definition of "genetic relative". My question is why we would limit that information to genetic relatives. However, since the Minister is reviewing the matter, I will not press the amendment at this time.

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

Fintan Warfield: I move amendment No. 14: In page 11, between lines 30 and 31, to insert the following: “ “illegal adoption” means an illegal adoption, where any of the following situations occurred: (a) where a non-marital child was registered as the natural child of the adoptive parents without the mother’s knowledge or consent and no adoption order was made; (b) where a...

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

Victor Boyhan: I thank Senators Warfield, Boylan, Gavan and Ó Donnghaile for amendment No. 14. The amendment is extensive and cuts to the very core of many of the issues with this legislation. I do not know how we can justify calling it "incorrect" rather than "illegal". I will share an experience. I met a family last weekend. There were six children, all of whom were illegally adopted from thet...

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

Mary Seery Kearney: I disagree with the amendments for the following reasons. In the apology the Minister gave to those affected, in this House, I did speak about the fact that illegality has an implication of criminality and that there needs to be a mechanism for assessment of that. On that basis, and following other discussions I have had around this, when the file is reviewed by the specialist entities that...

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)

Alice-Mary Higgins: However, it does not include "illegal" in the context of the reference to "false or misleading". It is relevant to those who have been affected by the St. Patrick’s Guild investigations, for example. For such a person, maybe his or her registration is in fact being investigated or is recognised as being illegal. Is the Minister suggesting that this is encompassed by the references...