Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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970. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her attention has been drawn to a petition organised by an organisation (details supplied); her plans to deal with the concerns of those affected by the illegal adoptions that took place here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54092/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I am aware of this petition and am committed to the process of notifying people who are affected by illegal registrations identified on the files of St. Patrick's Guild and providing these individuals with as much information as possible regarding their identity.

Tusla social workers are supporting these individuals as they deal with the news that they have been illegally registered at birth. The information that an illegal birth registration has taken place is potentially life changing and the State has a responsibility to reach a high level of certainty that this has in fact happened before it contacts the individuals concerned. I am keeping the situation continuously under review.

Further to this, the Deputy will also be aware that I initiated a review of adoption records to determine if similar evidence of illegal registration could be identified from the records of other former adoption agencies and other relevant bodies as was identified in the St. Patrick's Guild files. It is not possible at this stage to anticipate the type of information that will emerge from the review. Given the sensitive personal data contained in the files, data protection and GDPR issues have arisen, which have delayed the review, but these have now been addressed and the final report of the review is expected to be submitted to me before Easter 2019.

The Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 is relevant to those affected by illegal registration and I am committed to bringing it to Committee Stage in the Seanad as soon as possible. People affected by illegal registration will be able to apply for an information and tracing service on the same basis as adoptees.

This is an important piece of legislation as it provides adopted people and other relevant people with statutory rights to information and to a tracing service. It will also protect relevant records by bringing them into the custody of the Adoption Authority of Ireland and it will create offences for the concealment, destruction, mutilation or falsification of such records.

However, there is a constitutional context and the Bill must seek to balance the rights to identity and to privacy, which sometimes compete with one another. However, the Bill operates on the basis of a presumption in favour of disclosing information in so far as is legally and constitutionally possible.