Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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142. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the timeline for publication of the analysis of adoption records; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37926/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The analysis of records is being carried out by Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland, and overseen by an Independent Reviewer, who is a former Deputy Director of Social Services in Northern Ireland. Representatives from both agencies and the reviewer have met regularly since June. The work to date has focused on agreeing the sampling methodology, in consultation with a statistician, addressing the data protection issues, identifying the specific records to be reviewed, and agreeing a template to be applied by social workers reviewing the records.

There are an estimated 150,000 adoption records in existence and, of these, approximately 100,000 are currently in the custody of the State - either Tusla or the Adoption Authority of Ireland. The review is focused on those records and a targeted sampling exercise is being carried out in the first instance, owing to the volume of records involved. This targeted review will help to establish the extent of usable information that can be found in these historical records. The review will provide information to assist me in identifying more fully the scale of illegal birth registrations and in identifying any necessary next steps.

Tusla and the Adoption Authority are working hard to extract and examine the records. This is a very complex task, and issues have arisen in relation to data protection and GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulations). These issues mean that the estimated timeline for the Independent Review's Report is now mid-December.