Kathleen Funchion Demands Investigation into Illegal Adoptions

The Mother and Baby Home report has reignited a crucial conversation in this country around adoption, illegal adoptions and in general adoption practices that date right back to the foundation of the state. The recent RTE Investigates Who I Am raised very serious questions around how we treat adoptees, how badly adoptees have been treated in the past and how we continue to perpetrate these injustices. It also raised very serious questions around illegal adoptions and the part the state has played in facilitating these and on that note I want to say that we do need a full investigation into the illegal adoption practices and you understand that there is some work underway regarding Dr. Conor O'Mahony which is welcome as we need to get to the bottom of this kind of once and for all and I would say as well that any inquiry or any investigation that we are doing has to take a different course of action than the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes in the sense that there has to be accountability at the end and people should not be allowed to conduct an investigation and then sail off into the sunset without crucial questions being answered. The state and its agencies have continued to take a punitive and reprehensible approach to providing adopted people with access to their birth certificates. It literally can come down to who you get to speak to on the day. Recent events have begun a crucial conversation around how we afford some in our society access to their birth certificates but others not. So many adopted people have been denied this basic right for far too long. Everyone has the right to know who they are, where they were born, they have the right to know what name they were given at birth and they have the right to know on what date they were born and at what time and they have a right to know their birth parents' names. And I really think, and I know I've said this before, but I really do believe that so many of us probably take this for granted and I include myself in that. You know, it's incredible to think in 2021 that some people are still being denied access to this very, very basic information. I believe that access to this information is a human right and it's one I know I have always taken for granted. The impact of the state and its agencies, legislative and other obstacles to impede attempts by adopted people to access their personal data has been devastating for adopted persons and it must stop now. I recently spoke to a lady who was adopted. She was born in a regional hospital. She was then sent to a mother and baby home from where she was adopted out. Her adoptive parents were very open with her about her adoption and from a very early age she began herself writing letters looking for information on her birth parents. While this lady did later go on to connect with her birth mother, it was in pursuit of her birth certificate years after this initial meeting that she came up against Official Ireland and they were determined to put every obstacle in her way. Social workers actually retrospectively attempted to build a fortress around her adoptive file and the information it contained. This was, mind you, after she had actually met with her own birth mother. At this stage as well, unbeknownst to her, unfortunately her birth father had passed away. She only discovered that herself a number of years ago recently and he was quite young, he was only in his early 40s. So this woman in her late 30s, at this stage she was a mother herself, sitting down at her kitchen table with a social worker, who knows she has met her birth mother and actually knows that this was a consensual meeting for both parties. She set to assess her suitability to be given her birth certs. This lady's privacy wasn't important in this meeting, her rights were irrelevant. So you'd have to ask herself at this stage, whose rights are being protected here? She was asked questions by the social worker, like how did her adoptive parents treat her? How did her adoption take? What kind of childhood did she have? Did she get on with her adoptive siblings? What would she do if her half-siblings arrived at her door? She was then asked a series of questions around her mental health and how she had coped over the years in the knowledge that she was adopted. Yet so many, these were extremely intrusive and invasive questions. And so many times when we speak about this topic we're told people want to protect the privacy rights of certain individuals. But certainly a meeting like that, and this was a lady who had met her birth mother, I mean her rights and her privacy absolutely were out the window. So we can't keep having this sort of double standard and a different approach for certain individuals. The social worker, as it turns out as well, was aware that this lady's birth father had passed away, but actually left that lady's house that day without telling her that. And she actually only found that out. I think he passed away in the 80s and she only found that out herself in the last few years. This is the kind of the reality and the cruelty really that has existed in relation to this for so many years. I've heard so many stories of being pushed to the point of becoming emotional wrecks in order just to obtain simple information about themselves. And anyone who has been adopted into this country and comes up against the state and their agencies talk about hitting successive brick walls, being made to feel like a criminal and a nuisance and being met by indifference and in many cases being just outright ignored. And I do know, I do want to say there is some decent people along the way that have helped people and I do believe that a lot is to be said for those individuals, but that's not what we should be relying on as a state. We should know that our agencies are fulfilling their rights and they're ensuring that everybody is treated with a bit of decency and fairness. The state has continued to perpetuate the myth that mothers were guaranteed secrecy, which falls apart when you consider that there has never been any paperwork produced that actually would hold up this argument. And it's ironic that whilst the state is not allowed adopted people to access their birth certificates in Ireland, some who were sent to America actually were given their birth certificates. I met with a group of people recently who had been adopted over to America and they had said some of them actually had access to some of their documentation. And there's also the issue of GDPR, which is now in the most recent years has been thrown into the mix. But one person's right to privacy cannot trump another person's right to know who they are. And that's the key argument, I think, in the whole argument today. Adoption rights advocacy groups have long argued that GDPR does not and should not stop the state providing adoptees access to their birth certificate. Whilst the state has gone to extreme lengths to protect the rights of mothers, it is time the state went to the extreme lengths to enable adoptees the right to know who they are. I'm very cognisant that this is a first step and I do want to make that point. There's wider and more comprehensive information and tracing bill does need to be put forward. And I also want to make the point that we do really need to deal with the people's access to their wider files, but also as well in relation to their medical information. That comes up an awful lot for people trying to get just basic medical information about various illnesses. Again, I think a lot of us would take it for granted when you go into a doctor, what's the family background and medical history? And you just answer those questions. I know I certainly do and you just don't think about it. Whereas there's a whole cohort of people that have been sort of cut out of that. We've had, we've seen various talks and we've seen various attempts and, you know, in the last stall there was supposed to be information and tracing bill. You know, I do understand, Minister, that you've said you want to bring forward your own bill. And I do hope that that happens and that we see that, but I really believe that we can pass this today and that we can get this through as a first step and to allow people access to this very, very basic document. You know, I think we all really have such an important role to fill in this chamber. Everybody has different walks of life, different backgrounds. Well, on some certain occasions such as today, we actually have the opportunity to make a really positive difference and to change in some people's lives. And we really need to take the opportunity and not just take it and pay it lip service and not just say, yes, we're not going to oppose it, which I welcome. But I do want to see this actually being acted upon and not being left on a shelf somewhere for forever and a day. And so I'm asking every TD and I do believe that they will support this, but ensure that they do, they do, you know, actually fight for this as well. Don't just say it in here today, but actually fight to ensure that this happens. I also want to just mention a few people that I've had the absolute pleasure of dealing with. I've dealt with so many different survivors and I want to particularly, I want to actually thank all of them, all of the various women as well that I ring on a regular basis that are just incredible. And in the week of International Women's Day, I do want to pay tribute to them. I've dealt with Aintness, which are an adoption rights group, the Adoptive Rights Alliance, the Klan Project, loads of individual women and groups, and also a group in America as well. I had the pleasure of dealing with recently, really, really very genuine people trying to find their roots. So I just want to conclude on this to ask every TD to ensure to take this very first step in order for some justice. Thank you very much.