Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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920. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when the information and tracing Bill, or a Bill of a similar nature, will be presented to Dáil Éireann; if he considered amalgamating this into the Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12626/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The primary purpose of the Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016 is to amend the Adoption Act 2010 to give legislative effect to the 31st Amendment to the Constitution (Children) Act 2012 which was signed into law on 28th April 2015. However since the Referendum there have been other legislative enactments, in particular the Child and Family Relationships Act 2015, which required the amendments to the Adoption Act 2010, that are included in the Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016. The Government also decided to include provisions in the Bill for the adoption of a child by his or her step parent without the requirement for the child’s other parent to adopt his or her own child.

The Government approved drafting of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill in December 2015. This Bill is intended to facilitate access to adoption information and operates on the basis of a presumption in favour of disclosing information in so far as is legally and constitutionally possible for both domestic and inter-country adoptions. The Bill was always envisaged as a stand-alone piece of legislation, to address the complex issues of retrospective and future adoptions. Drafting of the Adoption (Information and Tracing Bill) is underway and I am committed to progressing the Bill and to publish it as soon as possible this year.