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

In respect of the obligation, we recognise the particular vulnerability of parents in situations. We discussed at length earlier today and at our previous debate the issues regarding striking a balance when it comes to privacy rights, and for some parents, and I believe they are in a minority, their concern about protection and their not being contacted. Earlier in this process we changed the obligation in terms of providing counselling and made it mandatory. The Bill states, "The Agency, on the request of a person referred to in subsection (1), shall arrange for the provision of counselling support to him or her." It is clear the legislation takes a particularly strong view of the need to provide that support for parents. I do not think putting in the timeline, as the Senator suggests, is an enhancement of that. It is important to recognise that the legislation itself shows that it sees the importance of providing counselling for parents while recognising that a group of them may be especially vulnerable in terms of fear and apprehension about the release of their name to the child who was given up for adoption. That is recognised by making this a mandatory obligation within the legislation. We have had that debate about "may" or "shall". I have disagreed in terms of situations where "may" or "shall" should have been used. Here is a situation where we have used "shall".