I lend my support to the Adoption Bill in the Seanad

Senator Mary Moran has supported the Seanad Adoption Bill 2014 which would seek to provide access to information such as birth certs and other personal records once an adoptee reaches the age of 18. 'I was delighted to support the bill on Wednesday evening as I believe it is an important step for the more than 50,000 adopted people in Ireland.  I received hundreds  of emails over the last number of months  from those whom adoption has touched their lives.  Reading through these emails was very eye opening and I am very grateful to each and every person who contacted, who shared their very personal experience and their frustrations regarding the difficulty in accessing their information--particularly original birth certificates.
'It is important that we support and provide a process within set parameters to those children, women and siblings who are searching for each other and for more information about themselves.  No one should be made to feel like they are wrong or experience unnecessary frustration in the search for their information, essentially their identity. I believe that everyone should have the right to their identity and their medical history.
'Following the cross-party support for the bill in the Seanad it will now be referred to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children.'