David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

An enormous amount of thought and preparation has gone into the Bill and these amendments. I particularly support this amendment. There appears to be an appropriate balance between competing rights - the right of an individual human being to determine and assert his or her identity on the one hand, and on the other the right of the parent to privacy. I believe that balance has been achieved.

With regard to the question of this Bill being compared to a possible hypothetical Bill that is not yet in existence in the Department, I refer to the words spoken in the Dáil by Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, who is now the Minister for Justice and Equality. Perhaps this has been done already today, but they have been quoted to me in a variety of correspondence. The Minister will see in my hand the amount of correspondence I have received from people on this issue in the last two days.It is a real issue. It affects many people throughout the country. It is particularly powerful to hear the voices of people like Senator Averil Power who speak from direct personal experience of this. No one can turn their ears against this.

The Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, said in the Dáil in April 1997, which is a long time ago:

It is universally accepted that denial of access to information about one's origins is denial of a basic human right. That right is enshrined in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, and our own constitutional review group has recommended that Article 41 of the Constitution should be amended to make it abundantly clear that Ireland unequivocally subscribes to that view.

That was nearly 20 years ago. The now Minister for Justice and Equality made a very powerful contribution as a member of the Opposition in the Dáil.

There are two other things I would like to put on the record. Mothers very often do not look to have the information secreted. I have received a number of letters and e-mails from people and I will put one of them on the record. It states: "When I signed adoption papers I did so under coercion. I never asked for, nor was I offered, confidentiality." I am supportive of the adoptees having information about their natural parents and their birth identity after they turn 18 years of age. This information should be provided in a way that is sensitive to the needs of the adoptive person and their natural parents. I believe that this amendment resolves that situation.

I wish to put another e-mail on the record. I am not quite sure from what part of the country it came. It states: "Imagine sitting in a room in Dublin with a series of locked filing cabinets and somebody who is not directly connected or associated with me at all sitting in judgment and deciding whether or not I am entitled to the information about me contained in those filing cabinets." That is the kind of thing that would make a difference. Another piece of correspondence came from a 61 year old grandmother who was wondering from where she came and has still not got access to the information.

I have a series of people who have made inquiries for medical reasons, have been put on lists and still have not got anywhere. These are all issues which have to be confronted directly and I congratulate my three colleagues on putting this Bill forward. I strongly support it and hope it passes. I hope there is no vote and that the Government accepts it.