Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022 reaches Stage 2 of Seanad Éireann

The Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022 seeks to enshrine in law the importance of a person knowing his or her origins. It aims to address the difficulties currently faced by people in accessing birth and early life information through a fresh approach which guarantees the full and un-redacted release of such information to persons who have attained the age of 16 years.

In summary, the Bill provides for:

• Release of the birth certificate, birth information, early life information, care information and medical information for all persons who were adopted, boarded out, the subject of an illegal birth registration or who otherwise have questions in relation to their origins (hereafter referred to as a “relevant person”);
• Release of the birth certificate, birth information, early life information, care information and medical information to the child of a relevant person in a situation where the relevant person and the parents named on the birth certificate are deceased;
• Release of information to a next of kin of a relevant person who died as a child in one of the institutions specified in the Bill;
• A statutory tracing service for persons wishing to make contact, share or seek information;
• A Contact Preference Register, established in law, through which people can register their preference in relation to contact with a child or genetic relative, as well as lodge personal communications or contemporary medical information; and
• The safeguarding of relevant records.

The Bill also amends the Civil Registration Act 2004 to address key issues arising for people

affected by illegal birth registration by:

• providing a robust legal basis for the transfer of information from Tusla to the GRO, thereby vindicating the right of relevant individuals to an accurate birth registration; and
• providing the relevant individual with an entitlement to live under whichever identity they prefer (i.e. their accurate birth identity or the ‘social’ identity by which they have lived their whole lives) and to have their social parents recognised in law through the mechanism of a parallel register.

It is intended that the Bill will also contain further measures to address issues arising for people affected by illegal birth registration, particularly succession issues.

Under the legislation, the following people over the age of 16 years will be able to apply for birth certificates, birth information, early life information, care information and medical information:

• an adopted person
• a person who is or has been the subject of an illegal birth registration
• a person who has been nursed out or boarded out
• a person who has reasonable grounds for suspecting that they may have been the subject of an incorrect birth registration
• a person who has reasonable grounds for suspecting that they may have been nursed out or boarded out
• a person who does not fall into any of the above categories but who resided as a child in a Mother and Baby Home Institution or County Home listed in schedule 1 of the Bill.

The legislation uses a term “relevant person”, to represent all the categories of people described above who will benefit from this legislation.

Importantly, where a relevant person is now deceased, their son or daughter (termed a “qualifying person” in the legislation) will have the same right to apply for information that relates to their parent, as long as the relevant person’s parents are also deceased. In other words, they can receive the same suite of birth certificate, birth, early life, care and medical information that their parent (the relevant person) would have been entitled to receive. Furthermore, a next of kin of a relevant person can also apply for this information where the relevant person died whilst resident as a child in an institution as listed in the legislation. In the legislation, a next of kin in this circumstance is defined as a “qualifying relative” and the order of hierarchy of next of kin is set out.

The Bill is currently at stage 7 which is the Debate Stage of Seanad Éireann (second stage). 

The Bill can be viewed here: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2022/3/?tab=bill-text

A list of all amendments to the Bill can be accessed here: https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/bill/2022/3/dail/4/amendment/numberedList/eng/b03a22d-drnl.pdf