Adopted people given 'full and clear right of access' to birth certs and information

Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman said a number of significant changes have been made to the bill, including the scrapping of a requirement for some adoptees to attend an information session with a social worker. File picture:Gareth Chaney/Collins

Landmark legislation to open up personal information including birth certs, medical data and baptismal certs to adopted people for the first time has been published.

Publishing the bill, Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman said for decades in this country, adopted people have been failed in being denied clear access to their identity information.

He said the Birth Information and Tracing Bill would provide "full and clear right of access" to birth certificates, birth and early life information for all those who were adopted, boarded out, the subject of an illegal birth registration or who otherwise have questions in relation to their origins.

Mr O'Gorman now intends to bring forward the bill to the Dáil next week in a bid to get it passed as soon as possible.

However, a number of adoptees and campaigners have already raised concerns around the bill.

Claire McGettrick, co-founder of the Adoption Rights Alliance, described the legislation as "offensive" to adopted people as she said it still does not provide unrestricted access to birth certs and other personal information.

She cited a number of difficulties with the legislation and said the definition of 'genetic relative information' is "ridiculously narrow".

Significant changes

Mr O'Gorman said a number of significant changes have been made to the bill, including the scrapping of a requirement for some adoptees to attend an information session with a social worker.

"Crucially, the bill’s requirement for an information session where a parent has expressed a no-contact preference now no longer needs to be a physical meeting; the revised bill makes provision for this to take place by means of a short phone call or video call if desired," he said.

Next-of-kin will also be able to avail of the legislation to access information about a family member in specific circumstances.

The definition of early life information has been expanded to provide for the release of baptismal certificates and entries on the baptismal register.

Labour TD member of the Oireachtas Children's Committee Ivana Bacik welcomed the publication on Tuesday of the revised Birth Information and Tracing Bill, but has expressed her concerns about aspects of it.

Campaigners have been crying out for legislation to provide them with access to their birth certs and information about their adoption and origins," she said.

“On my first reading, however, I was concerned to see the retention of the controversial information session for those seeking information about their origins. T

"Throughout our committee meetings, this was raised repeatedly as a concern by privacy experts and adopted persons alike. Thus our committee recommended deletion of any requirement for a meeting or information session, and it is disappointing to see that some form of information provision requirement is retained in the revised bill."