Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank her for a very comprehensive report on this Bill in its current state.

The Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill will give adopted persons, birth parents and relatives a legal right to an information and tracing service. The proposed legislation provides for structured and regulated access to information and tracing services for those affected by adoption. It provides for access to information for adopted people, birth parents and others, and operates on the basis of a presumption in favour of disclosing information in so far as is legally and constitutionally possible. Fianna Fail broadly supports this Bill as it makes important progress in recognising the needs and rights of adopted people, and creating a more streamlined and well organised means for birth parents and adopted people to access information and trace their relatives.

In transforming the adoption register from a passive to an active one, the Bill will greatly increase the efficiency of the register and will likely increase the number of successful matches and recorded retrievals. In creating a more accessible service, this Bill will expand the range of people to whom adoption and birth information is available, for example, people adopted through illegal or informal adoptions. This Bill, which was promised by both this Government and its predecessor, is a long-overdue recognition of the struggle of adopted persons and their relatives to increase the ease with which important records can be accessed in the legislative process.

The Adoption Act 1952 remains the primary legislation on adoption in Ireland, as the first Bill to formalise adoption in Ireland. This Bill provided for an adoption system which preserved the anonymity of birth parents, driven by the social and political context of the time. The Adoption Act 2010 sought to build on this by improving standards in domestic and intercountry adoptions. Under current law, there is no comprehensive statutory right for adopted people to access the records relating to their birth or adoption. It is estimated that around 44,364 adoption orders were made in Ireland between 1953, after the Adoption Act 1952, up to an including 2015.

The proposed legislation will establish the register of adoption contact inquiries and provides for the safeguarding of all adoption records. This register will be under the remit of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. After the enactment of the legislation, Tusla will undertake a six month long campaign to raise awareness among adoptees and birth mothers. In particular, the campaign will outline that an adopted person aged 18 years and over will be entitled to apply for their birth certificate information and that a birth parent will be given an opportunity to indicate their preference regarding contact on the register of adoption contact inquiries. The existing national adoption contact reference register, NACPR, will be discontinued. However, all information relating to the NACPR will be retained. Before the new register is established, each person whose details are on the NACPR will be contacted advising them of the new register that is being established by Tusla. They will be invited to apply to have their details entered on the new register, which is to be welcomed. However, where birth parents have already indicated a preference for no contact on the NACPR, details of this preference will be transferred to the new register. Where a birth mother is deceased or there is no entry on the register in relation to her, birth certificate information will be provided to an adopted person after he or she has given an undertaking agreeing not to contact or attempt to contact his or her birth parent or not to ask anyone else to make or attempt to make contact on his or her behalf.

In cases where there is an entry on the register in respect to the birth mother, the agency will first contact the birth mother, informing her of the request and telling her that unless she provides compelling reason, that is, reasons to suggest that providing the information would endanger a life, the requested birth certificate or adoption order will be provided. While this is an issue of contention with some survivors, it aims to strike a balance between providing information and ensuring that the privacy of birth mothers is respected. Under the Irish constitution, this is an important balance to be struck,

As I said at the outset, while there are certain aspects which may need to be ironed out later in the legislative process, we extend our overall support for the Bill and the principles which underpin it. We will be submitting some amendments, and we look forward to hearing the amendments being proposed by others.While this long overdue Bill is to be welcomed, there is a need for tweaking in many areas.