David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hope we will rise in the summer and come back in the autumn and continue our work.

I completely welcome some parts of the Bill. It is an advance, of that there is no question or doubt. The removal of certain obnoxious sections is welcome, as is the compiling of archives to which the Minister referred. The idea of centralising and controlling these archives and making sure they are not subject to arbitrary or capricious decision by third parties and so on is extremely welcome. However, the Minister might take back to the Attorney General something that no Government has ever acted on, even though I have continuously promoted it. The Constitution respects the right to privacy but it also puts the public good into the fundamental document of our democracy. That is something of which we should be aware. In these cases we have an individual mother and a class of people who make up a very large group. Surely to God the public good is on the side of this large class of people as opposed to the rights of a mother. I am not suggesting the right to privacy of the mother should be extinguished. I am saying there is a valid reason for us to go along the same route as our neighbouring island has gone. We have this provision for the public good and the public good is best served by acknowledging the rights of the adoptees. I would like the Minister to take that message back to the Attorney General and say, for God's sake, that we should, for once, have a Government that acts in the light of the provisions of the Constitution for the public good.