Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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208. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 564 and 569 of 26 November 2013, in which she outlined that she would not have an audit of all adopted files carried out to ascertain information on illegal adoptions, her plans to deal with this urgent issue. [52249/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I intend strengthening the legislative provisions regarding maintenance and access to adoption records in the forthcoming Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill. An important aspect of the proposed legislation relates to responsibility for adoption records. The intention is that the Bill is to provide that either the Adoption Authority, the HSE or an accredited body may hold adoption records, with the Authority having overall charge of those records. It is intended that the Bill will provide for the Adoption Authority to be responsible for providing access to adoption records, in accordance with the provisions of the Bill. The Bill will provide for the Adoption Authority to establish and maintain a National Index of Adoption Records, the purpose of which is to help an applicant for adoption information to identify the location of his or her adoption records.

A number of religious orders have transferred or are in the process of transferring files from their Mother and Baby Homes and Adoption Societies to the HSE. The HSE is in the process of amalgamating these files and reorganising the information and tracing system to allocate social work resources country wide in a way that will allow for reduced waiting times across the country.

In consultation with the Adoption Authority and the HSE, my Department is examining legislative and administrative options in relation to accessing records which may exist.