I cannot support amendment No. 65, which seeks to provide for an adoptive parent to apply for medical information for his or her adoptive child where that child is under 16 years of age. It seeks to alter the process through which the release of third-party medical information is provided. This issue is one that was subject to detailed consultations between us, the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Data Protection Commission. Throughout my time in this role and in my engagements in the lead-up to the draf…

Senator Boyhan raised the important point of the information about vaccine trials that were done and, as we know now, done without consent and often in breach of what were the medical guidelines of the time, which I believe were the Nuremberg guidelines. It is a source of great concern for many people who were in mother and baby or county home institutions or other institutions. As Senator Seery Kearney said, vaccinations are explicitly listed in the definition of "early life information" and they are implicitly al…

I welcome this opportunity to discuss the important issue of early learning and childcare. It would be difficult to overstate the importance of early learning and childcare to society, the economy, parents, but most importantly, to children. Recent years have seen an unprecedented growth in the level of State investment in early learning and childcare, and in the numbers of children in receipt of State supports to access these services, including children with disabilities, who are being supported through the award…

I thank all the Senators for their detailed contributions. Senator Garvey made the point that I had the opportunity to visit the childcare centre in Inagh when I was in County Clare recently. It is a community service in a rural area. It has a baby room, an ECCE service, school-age childcare and general childcare. These services are all small but all elements are offered. Those concerned were extremely happy with what was being provided under core funding. Contrary to what has been said by some, core funding does n…

I am pleased to present to the House the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022. The Bill will mark a major change to the law in Ireland. It will provide, for the first time, a clear pathway for access to identity records for adopted people and others. The Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022 was published in January, and in April the Bill completed its passage through Dáil Éireann. I look forward to working with Senators to discuss the Bill further over the coming weeks, and I extend my thanks to those Senator…

I want to thank all Members of the House for the considered contributions they have made in the context of this legislation and in relation to the apology that has been delivered to those who were the subject of illegal birth registrations. I want to thank the Acting Chairman for his insightful contributions, as ever. He focused his contribution on the importance of identity and that is fundamentally what the issues we are seeking to address in this legislation are about. It is the fundamental issue that those who …

Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine on 24 February, and the invoking of the temporary protection directive shortly thereafter, my Department has been working intensively as part of the cross-government response to the Ukraine crisis. My Department’s role is focused on the immediate accommodation needs of those who have fled here. We have established a Ukraine unit within the Department, comprised of almost 50 staff, to support this effort. The accommodation provided is temporary in nature and is focused o…

I thank the Senator for his kind comments, for raising this important issue, and for giving me the opportunity to come to the House today to provide an update on the mother and baby institutions payment scheme. The provision of a form of enhanced medical card to survivors through the mother and baby institutions payments scheme will require the establishment of legislative and administrative structures to provide statutory access to the relevant health services, assess eligibility and carefully manage and share the…

Senator Boyhan is right regarding the importance of survivors living overseas being informed of their ability to make claims under this legislation. Once it is passed, we will have a dedicated information campaign. We will co-ordinate that with the Department of Foreign Affairs and our embassies around the world and also link in with Irish diaspora groups. When I was in the US as part of the week of festivities celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, I met with a group of survivors. It ended up being online, but I met with …

Student accommodation.

This Government delivered it.

We are dealing with a crisis this country has never had to experience before, and we are dealing with it in a way that ensures every Ukrainian who comes to this country seeking shelter and security can be given it. That has meant we have not been able to use the traditional procurement processes. We have had to short-circuit processes to ensure-----

-----people get fed and get shelter. If we did not do that and had long delays, I have no doubt the Deputy and others would be condemning the Government, and they would be right to do so. We have had to move quickly.

We have moved quickly. That is why 16,000 people are being sheltered and fed.

Yes, it is the intention to undertake those sections in June. We have had a very useful and lengthy pre-legislative process. The report has come to my Department and my officials are working with the Attorney General's office on some points. A couple of other points have also come in, which we may bring forward as Committee Stage amendments. We see the importance of this, however, and of setting up the Decision Support Service, DSS. We want to move away from the wardship system that is so outdated. The DSS is the m…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The purpose of the Bill is to reform the existing guardian ad litem system. At present, guardians ad litem , GALs, are appointed by the court for children who are the subject of child care proceedings under the Child Care Act 1991. The GAL's role is to ascertain the views of the child and communicate these to the court. The GAL also makes recommendations to the court as to what is in the best interests of the child. This is an important role that gives a voice to v…

I thank Deputies for their contributions to the debate. I join everybody in recognising the importance of the GAL system as it currently stands, particularly the work of individual GALs in supporting all children at a vulnerable time in their lives. I have listened carefully to what speakers have said and will consider the issues that have been raised in detail. The purpose of this Bill is to reform the existing guardian ad litem system. It provides a statutory basis for a national GAL service that will provide hig…

I will speak to a number of the amendments.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 7, line 15, after “persons;” to insert the following: “to amend the Succession Act 1965 to make provision in respect of persons who have been the subject of incorrect birth registrations;”. I will speak to amendments Nos. 2, 4 and 77. To clarify, if the Deputy comes back in will amendment No. 1 be dealt with?

That is fine. This set of amendments deals with the issue of terminology used in the Bill, in particular the use of the term "illegal birth registration". In all of my communications and discussion of these issues I have always sought to very clearly understand the significance of illegal birth registrations and place the proper emphasis on it. I am pleased to bring forward these very important amendments to the Succession Act. As the House knows, in the context of addressing the issue of illegal birth registration…