Seanad debates

Thursday, 26 March 2015

Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Rónán MullenRónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is almost as though the Government is laughing up its sleeve. It is bizarre that there is so little sanction on the clinic when one considers the consequences of a failure to be compliant. It is that a child or children would be deprived in perpetuity of knowing who they are. Is it possible that that is of such little consequence, even though the Government is purporting to prohibit an anonymous donation system, to Senator Crown's great dissatisfaction? If it means anything that a child should know who he or she is, then the law should come down like a ton of bricks on any facility that would deprive even one child of knowledge of who he or she is.

My amendment is simply to ensure consistency by providing that the operator of a DAHR facility would commit an offence if he or she failed in his or her obligation to comply with section 28 to the extent of causing the Circuit Court to make an order under subsection (3). It is not at the later stage when the court makes an order to require the operator to comply with an order previously made by the court. It is the earlier order that he or she must comply with. Where the Minister is bringing an application that the operator comply when it comes to his or her knowledge that the facility is not in compliance, then if the Circuit Court has to make an order to make the operator comply with the recording requirements, that should be enough to ground an offence. It is mere consistency if the Minister means what she says about the importance of children having access to knowledge about their parents.

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