Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----to be the President. I listened to them. I expressed some disquiet at the use of the term "illegitimate" and stated:

I, too, consider this an unacceptable terminology. I appreciate the Senators' concern. I share their desire to avoid the use of this term, particularly following the recent enactment of the Status of Children Act. However, there is a difficulty in relation to the Adoption Acts, as the term "illegitimate" is used in various places throughout those Acts. It is my intention to remove all of those references in the context of the comprehensive Adoption Bill which I plan to bring forward. Pending this, it would be very confusing to delete the reference to "illegitimate" from section 10 of the 1952 Act, while leaving similar references elsewhere in the Adoption Acts unchanged.

And so on. When Nuala Fennell was asked whether the amendment was withdrawn, she replied that it was and a new section was proposed by Mary Robinson.

The Seanad has been a useful vehicle. I am the only former Minister of State in the House. I had considerable respect for the House while I held that role. I was not a former Senator at the time, but I believe that the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, is a former Senator, and I presume that he also has considerable respect for the House. Indeed, he should have.