Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This morning, I raise the case of Irish citizen Elizabeth Crumlish Doran, who is making a desperate plea to the Irish Government to step in and help return her three children, who were taken into care by British social workers in distressing scenes in Solihull, Birmingham in April 2016. This is a most disturbing case. The children were aged nine, six and 21 months old at the time social services took them away. Since then, she has done everything she can to try to get her children back. What is really disturbing is the fact that the family court system in Britain operates a system of forced adoption. It is the only country in the EU to operate such a system, although of course it is leaving the EU now. The court decided that because it would take Elizabeth a year or more to learn how to read or write, it would be too long for the baby to be fostered, so her now two year old baby son has been put into forced adoption. In other words, she was told she would never see her child again.

This case is not a one off. I have been researching this policy of contested or forced adoption, and I find it particularly disturbing because the system operates in secret. A number of Irish citizens have been affected by the system. My colleague in Tipperary, Councillor Catherine Carey, has been approached by a number of people in recent times to tell her stories of mothers who, because they suffer from a mild disability, again, because they cannot read or write, have had their children taken away from them and told they will not see them again.

We began the week speaking about Tuam and a very disturbing situation there and the horrors inflicted on women. I find it absolutely shocking that today, just across the water, there is a system of contested or forced adoption, which seems to be picking on vulnerable people in particular. Elizabeth's heart is absolutely broken, but it gets worse. Given that the system in Britain operates in secret, once a child is forcibly adopted, if one speaks out, one can be jailed. Elizabeth is being threatened with jail by the British court system at present. It is not just a threat because at present 200 parents of children are in jail in Britain because they have spoken out about the fact that their children have been taken from them.

Let us be clear: I fully understand the State has to be responsible and must intervene at times to protect children. We all agree on this point. However, it is particularly disturbing to find that parents are effectively gagged, threatened and jailed if they have the temerity to say their sons or daughters have been taken from them and they have been told they will never see them again. I ask the Minister for Justice and Equality to address urgently the specific issue relating to Elizabeth Crumlish Doran, and to come to the House to discuss this issue because it affects thousands of citizens. It has been addressed by the Council of Europe, which has expressed concern. The European Parliament has also expressed particular concern and the Italian courts have expressed concern that it may be in breach of the UN Convention on Human Rights with regard to children. I ask for the full support of the Leader on this issue.