Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late. I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him on his new role. I wholeheartedly welcome the fact that this Bill will, for the first time, allow citizens who die abroad to have their deaths registered in Ireland. That is a great step forward. I have taken the journey with some families. The Minister, Deputy Burton, worked with me diligently over the past few years on the matter.

Senator van Turnhout made an eloquent contribution. I was part of the group which passed the 2010 Bill. I did not know that we unwittingly changed birth certificates. My two children are adopted and it is part of their real life story. We would not wish to hide or conceal anything. They have birth and adoptive parents. As Senator van Turnhout said, neither birth nor adoptive parents own a child. It is the right of a child to be adopted. It is wise to have consultation, but I have serious concerns about an adoptive child receiving a birth certificate as if there is no other story in his or her life and as if he or she is the natural child of his or her parents. That would not be an accurate story. It would be a cover-up.

We have to find a middle ground whereby birth certificates reflect the reality of the lives of those who were adopted. I accept that if people had not been told by their families, and the first time they found out they were adopted was when they received a birth certificate, it would be a shock but it would be the truth.