Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

We suggest in this amendment that the timeframe of 35 days would be more realistic. A period of 21 days is too short. For example, a person might change address or a letter could be lost owing to postal difficulties. A change to 35 days would give the father sufficient time for reflection. That is a slightly different point from that made by Senator Norris whose amendment refers to three weeks in this context. I appreciate that we want to be child centred on this and that the Minister of State is balancing various rights. The amendment suggests that 35 days would give a little bit more time to the father to reflect and for people to contact him to be sure of his views.