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

I thank the Senator for her amendments and for the clarification on the withdrawal of amendment No. 83.

Part 4, which we are discussing here, is very important in terms of providing answers to family members of children who died in an institution. This Part provides for access to records for the family of those children who died in a mother and baby institution or county home institution. The necessity of these provisions featured very heavily during the pre-legislative scrutiny process. They were not referenced in the original draft of this Bill, as published, but having listened to the pre-legislative scrutiny process, having seen the report and having engaged with groups of survivors and relatives of those who died in these institutions, we amended this section to provide for the right of access for the next of kin of the relatives who died in mother and baby and county home institutions.

I have a concern, and as a result of that I am not able to support amendment No. 82, because of the lack of specificity in the language being used. It seeks to include the term "relative" rather than next of kin. Section 26(2) clearly specifies who those people are and provides for parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews. This section has been very carefully drafted in accordance with advice from the Office of the Attorney General. The approach being adopted in this legislation in terms of who can access sensitive information is similar to the approach being adopted in other legislation providing for access to information, for example, freedom of information legislation. We have modelled our approach on existing legislative procedures in terms of the definitions used and the hierarchy. I accept that with the withdrawal of amendment No. 83, Senator Moynihan is not trying to remove the hierarchy, but the use of the term "next of kin" is linked to that detailed listing of hierarchy that is set out in the Bill because it gives clarity in terms of who can use this legislation and when.