Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This amendment seeks to alter the definition of "medical information" to reference the word "record". This amendment is a response to an oversight in the Bill as originally published, which provided for the medical information of a relevant person to be released but not for the release of the record itself directly to the person. During the Dáil debates I brought an amendment to the Bill on Report Stage to amend section 15, which now ensures it is the record itself that can be released to the relevant person. This mirrors the release mechanism for other categories of information. I referenced this a number of times in the Dáil. For each category of information, including birth information, care information and early life information, we release the information but we release the record as well. The authority will not take the information, place it into a file and provide it. A copy of the record itself will also be provided. We have addressed the issue the Senator is raising in this amendment and as such I do not think it is necessary.