Civil Registration (Right of Adoptees to Information) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2021-03-10
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Danny Healy-Rae (IND), Kerry

I thank Sinn Féin for facilitating this debate. I will be supporting the Bill. As I have said before, adoptees are entitled to know who they are and where they come from. If their parents do not want to meet with them or whatever, that is fine. That is their business and they are entitled to do that too. These human beings are entitled to know who they are, however.
I have to say to the Minister that the Government has behaved very badly over the past few months on the issue of mother and baby homes. It was trying to hide records by storing them away for 30 years. Was that to make sure that all those affected would be all dead before they could access them? There are records where details are crossed out with a marker. It is said that it was the same marker used throughout. We need to know who did that. I thank RTÉ for its wonderful programme on adoption recently in which people told us their personal stories. It was really heart breaking to see what had happened. Several people were involved in the sale of these babies. It looks to me that they were sold and their names and their mother's names were crossed out to ensure nobody would know who they were. It was done by the same marker. This is a shame and disgrace. I will support Sinn Féin's Bill.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-03-10