I welcome this opportunity to update the House on LGBTI+ issues, particularly during Pride week. At the start of 2022, Ireland entered its second century as an independent State. We have become a proud, progressive and modern nation that supports and cherishes all people equally. We have made great strides in recent decades to promote equality and respond to the changing needs of a diverse population. We have a proud record as a champion of human rights internationally. We have been at the forefront of change in ad…

In January this year I published the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022 and prioritised its progression through both Houses of the Oireachtas. Members of the Dáil will recall the intensive deliberations on Second, Committee and Report Stages in this House and the amendments I brought forward arising from those debates. In the Seanad I also had a thorough and constructive debate with Senators and on Report Stage there I successfully brought through four amendments to the Bill to respond to issues raised during …

It is important to put on the record the changes that are being made. Seanad amendment No. 2 seeks to expand section 19 to ensure that in a scenario where a person has applied to a relevant body for birth, early-life care or medical information, and no record exists, as well as informing the applicant of this fact, the relevant body will also advise the applicant of the right to make an application to the contact preference register and to the tracing service. I am confident that in a scenario where records do not …

Seanad amendment No. 3 inserts an explicit reference to the international component of the public information campaign into section 60. I believe it is appropriate that the primary legislation references the international element of the campaign. Therefore, this amendment inserts the words: “parents and relevant persons residing outside the State” in section 60. I thank Senators for the constructive debate we had on this on Committee Stage. The public information campaign will be wide-ranging, utilising a comprehen…

This amendment is to section 70, the section that provides for a review of the operation of the Act. Seanad amendment No. 4 seeks to expand section 70 to provide further clarity on the composition of the review in terms of confirming that it will include consultation with relevant persons and other persons affected by this legislation, as appropriate. This amendment also guarantees that the review will be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. On Report Stage in the Dáil, I introduced an amendment to reduce the …

Tusla's in-house therapeutic model aims to support and inform front-line practitioners in their day-to-day work with children and families, as well as providing multidisciplinary therapeutic services that can address more complex needs. It is essential, therefore, that any expansion of this service must have regard to the provision of related services offered by other State agencies. In that regard, I highlight that overall responsibility for mental health services lies with the Department of Health, through the HS…

The Senator is absolutely right about the need to follow through. The crucial work that Tusla has done has been backed up by my Department with significant additional funding of €66 million in 2021. I think that is the highest ever annual increase in funding and €41 million was provided last year in budget 2022. We are investing in Tusla to give it the resources to be able to undertake the kinds of innovative approaches we are seeing in the therapeutic hub in north Dublin. It will take a little while before this ap…

As the Deputy pointed out, a follow-up report was done on an earlier report on the foster care service in Cork. The follow-up report continues to reveal deficiencies, in particular of staffing levels, in the Cork area. The crucial issue is the lack of social workers. Tusla has a remediation plan in place to try to bring in the necessary social workers, in particular at the relevant degree of qualifications, into the area. I am happy to follow up with the Deputy directly on how the plan is being implemented. It is s…

I join the Deputy in wishing huge congratulations to the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and her family. Work is ongoing regarding the provision of maternity leave to members of local authorities. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and his team are working on that. My Department is working on the provision of maternity leave to Oireachtas Members. We have engaged with the Irish Women's Parliamentary Caucus. We have sent a survey to all female Members to get their views. I am …

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the following Order in draft: Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019 (Extension of Periods of Leave) Order 2022, a copy of which was laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 30th May, 2022.

On behalf of the Green Party, I join Members on all sides of the House in expressing my condolences to the family of Austin Currie, namely, his wife, Annita, their children, Estelle, Caitríona, Dualta, Austin Óg and our colleague, Senator Emer Currie. Very few people will equal, in one lifetime, the positive impact that Austin Currie had on politics on this island. As the Minister with responsibility for equality, I have always been inspired by Austin's lifelong dedication to achieving equal civil rights for those …

Part 4 of the Bill is very important for providing answers to family members of children who died in institutions. It provides for access to records for the family of those children who died in a mother and baby home or county home institution. The necessity for these provisions featured in the pre-legislative scrutiny recommendations. They were not in the original draft Schedule to the Bill, but we listened to what was said during the pre-legislative process by the groups and individuals who made representations o…

The concern is with respect to the release of information about a child who has died. With respect to the parent of that child, there is personal information and shared identity information in terms of the release of the information about the child. That is why the parent is first in the hierarchy in the release of that information. If the parent is deceased, it is open to a sibling to apply for that information. If the parent is alive and wishes to receive the information, the parent can receive the information an…

Part 5 provides for Tusla and the authority to deliver a tracing service. Tracing will be carried out to locate individuals for the purposes of contact or the sharing of information. The tracing service is available to persons over the age of 18 years. An application for a tracing service can be made by a relevant person and by categories of relatives set out in sections 32(6) and (7). An adoptive parent of an adopted child can also seek a trace where the adoptive parent is seeking to locate a person for the purpos…

I am not in a position to speak to the amendments that were ruled out of order. While I cannot accept amendments Nos. 38 and 40, I hope I can provide the Senators with some reassurance in terms of the work we are doing to ensure that the public information campaign is designed in as user-friendly a manner as possible. The Adoption Authority of Ireland has already engaged with the National Adult Literacy Agency, NALA, on making sure the material produced as part of the campaign is accessible and easily understood an…

This amendment inserts an explicit reference in section 60 to the international component of the public information campaign. Having listened to Senators' views on this matter on Committee Stage and recognising the importance of the information campaign and that it must reach those living in other jurisdictions, it is appropriate that the primary legislation should reference the international element of the campaign. The amendment inserts the words "parents and relevant persons residing outside the State" in sectio…

I fully agree with the Senator that everybody should be able to use their rights under the GDPR to make a subject access request. I assure the Senators that the Bill does not restrict in any way a person's right to apply for his or her information through the alternative route of a subject access request. We do restrict GDPR rights in a very limited way in the legislation, as set out in section 68. It is a requirement under the GDPR to set out clearly the articles that are limited. Section 68 states that Articles 1…

While I understand the spirit in which this amendment has been brought, I am not in a position to accept it. Counselling provisions, as currently drafted within the legislation, allow for the broad spectrum of counselling support to be provided as required and requested by a person, and also allow for more urgent cases to be prioritised. As I flagged on Committee Stage, the National Counselling Service separately provides services to survivors of mother and baby and county home institutions as a priority group and,…

I propose this amendment further to commitments I made on Committee Stage in response to Senator Boyhan’s amendment. A key part of bringing forward any legislation is to provide for a review of the legislation to ensure it operates as intended, is sufficient and is robust. On Report Stage in the Dáil, I brought an amendment to reduce the timeframe for review to two years. This amendment now seeks to provide further clarity on the composition of the review in terms of confirming it will include consultation with rel…

I thank Senator Boyhan for his comments and leadership in this area. As he said, this is a significant moment. We are one stage away from passing this legislation and finally and conclusively dealing with the wrongful denial of people's identity rights over many decades in this State. In this legislation, we have finally found a way to provide a right for each person to full and unredacted access to all of his or her information. For decades now, this has been striven for. That right is nothing less than people who…