Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I again thank the Senators for bringing forward this Bill, which is long overdue. I hope it will not be too long before it is introduced properly. The amendment proposes to insert "and protect, as a right, access for adopted persons to their birth family’s relevant medical history" after "relations" on page 9, line 32. Much of the time, medical history does not even arise until well after the child has been adopted. If a biological parent has a heart condition, it may not show up for many years. Medical history will not show up on a birth certificate so it is about revealing the identity of the biological parent so that the adopted person can have the relevant conversations and find out the medical history. If we put this in, I do not know how it would work and how it would be monitored. Where does one get the medical history from at the time of adoption? Do we say "Have your parents a medical history?" Are we looking for the grandparents? I know how Senator Power feels because my father was adopted and our medical history on our father's side was never available to us because we never knew about it. To be honest, he was one of the people who did not even want to speak about it. He would never talk to us about being adopted or about his background. He knew his mother but he did not know his biological father. I would be interested in hearing what the Minister has to say about this. Being a GP, I am sure he will have a lot to say about medical history.