Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I also welcome this debate. While we prepare to celebrate for the centenaries of 1916 we should also reflect on the fact that our new state also brought with it some very dark elements. The forced adoption of people within and outside this state before and after the enactment of the 1952 Act is something that should bring a deep sense of shame to all of us as a society.
We recently had cause in this House to discuss the Tuam babies and wider issues. The issue of forced adoption is very much tied up in that era and the attitude of society to those who did not apparently live up to what were very cruel standards. In principle, I support Senators in making the tracing of birth parents or adopted children easier and ensuring rights are afforded to both parties in proportion. I welcome that the Government is proposing that this Bill be supported in the Seanad and referred to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children for further consideration. Work is already under way on the development of the general scheme and heads of Bill of an adoption (information and tracing) legislation, which will provide for statutory access to adoption records and birth information. The heads of Bill will provide that access to records will be provided to people previously involved in adoptions in so far as is possible and in line with legal advice.
While Dr. Ryan has done an excellent job in the drafting of the aforementioned Bill and seeks to go no further than the decision of the Supreme Court in I. O'T v.B, it must be accepted that there is a significant element of doubt as to the exact meaning of that Supreme Court decision. It is speculated on one side that given the Supreme Court decided that the rights of neither the birth parent nor child were absolute the release of a birth certificate would not prejudice the constitutional right of the birth parent to privacy. The other interpretation of the Supreme Court decision, the one with which the Adoption Board has since relied, is that the release of a birth certificate would prejudice the constitutional right of privacy of the birth parent. In the circumstances, it is appropriate that this legislation would not be objected to in this House by the Government but rather referred to the committee so that all of these details can be teased out. In my view, given the complexities and personal stories involved, regardless of the way the Bill is ultimately drafted, the matter may again appear before the Supreme Court for decision.
I would like to make a constructive comment on the Bill on which Senators and the Minister might reflect. There could be little objection in relation to the matter of medical records being released. There is a far greater understanding today of the hereditary nature of illness. It would seem unconscionable that someone who is adopted would not, for example, during a pregnancy, have information or even the right to it, on their parents' medical history or no knowledge of what regressive gene they might be carrying or passing on. An adopted person would have no idea that he or she might be afflicted by a hereditary illness until such time as he or she becomes ill.Given the judgment in I. O'T v.B it would be very difficult to try to assert that an adopted person does not have the right to know his or her medical history. Surely, this could be done without compromising any supposed right to privacy.
It would seem to me that there is a huge variety of situations with which this legislation will have to cope. No one adopted person or natural parent or their wants or needs will be same. Whatever legislation is enacted needs to be flexible and needs to respect all parties, something we have failed to do in this country to date. If it takes time to get it right, it will be time well spent. I commend the Senators who put forward this Bill and look forward to constructive debate on it as it progresses through the Houses of the Oireachtas.