Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 108:

In page 50, after line 33, to insert the following: “Process and complaints procedure

52. (1) The Minister shall create an appeals process and complaints procedure. The appeals and complaints procedure shall take into account concerns in relation to compliance, problems arising from limited definitions and issues arising regarding institutions not listed in this Act. The appointees shall also be responsible for documenting recurring issues and shall issue a report to the Minister.

(2) Notwithstanding Seanad Standing Orders, the Minister shall issue a report to the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Minister shall be required to provide a post enactment report which shall review the functioning of this Act. Such post enactment reports shall be laid in the Oireachtas Library for the information of all Oireachtas Members and shall outline the developments regarding the implementation of this Act.”.

I thank the Minister for his engagement on this Bill. I know it is important to him and I want to acknowledge his engagement, and that of his officials, and thank them for being here. I want to support this Bill and I hope I will be in a position to vote for it. I acknowledge that the Bill will provide unredacted access to birth and early life information for people affected by illegal birth registrations, adopted people and anyone with questions about their origins. That is important. We can lose sight of that in all the debate. We have to stay focused and ask what we are trying to achieve here. This has been going on for years. To be fair to the Minister, he has taken it up and worked within the constraints of the law and his own advisers.I am not privy to all of that but I take it in good faith that he is acting on the advice of his officials, and I do not doubt for one moment his absolute commitment.

What am I trying to achieve? I am going to keep this short and sweet. The amendment states "In page 50, after line 33, to insert the following" and deals with the process and complaints procedure, which is not a subsection in the Bill as of yet. It continues:

(1) The Minister shall create an appeals process and complaints procedure. The appeals and complaints procedure shall take into account concerns in relation to compliance, problems arising from limited definitions and issues arising regarding institutions not listed in this Act. The appointees shall also be responsible for documenting recurring issues [and there will be many recurring issues] and shall issue a report to the Minister.

(2) Notwithstanding Seanad Standing Orders, the Minister shall issue a report to the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Minister shall be required to provide a post enactment report which shall review the functioning of this Act. [That is a pretty standard thing anyway] Such post enactment reports shall be laid in the Oireachtas Library for the information of all Oireachtas Members and shall outline the developments regarding the implementation of this Act.

That is reasonable, fair, prudent and rational, and I hope that the Minister will be in a position to support what I think is a very reasonable and practical amendment.

I thank the Minister for making himself available this evening, because if we are not making progress, then I understand we may be here for another few hours. I am in the Minister's hands on this amendment and I would appreciate his support.