PRESS RELEASE

Wednesday, 30 May 2018

Victims of Unlawful Birth Registrations Need Information and Tracing Bill to Uncover Truth, says Children's Rights Alliance

The Children's Rights Alliance has responded to an announcement by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr. Katherine Zappone TD that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency will make contact with people in 126 cases where their second family were incorrectly registered as their birth parents between 1946 and 1969.

Responding to the news, Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children's Rights Alliance said today: "These cases raise serious human rights issues for the people affected. Ultimately, they were deprived of their first family through a false registration process, and their identity and heritage could be difficult to uncover.

We are calling for the Information and Tracing Bill 2016 to be fast-tracked as a matter of urgency to help the people affected. Section 34 of the Bill imposes a duty on Tusla, the Child and Family Agency to conduct enquiries to establish whether a person has been subject to what it calls an 'incorrect registration'. The Bill also provides the adopted person with an entitlement to any information that might be uncovered through this process."

Tanya Ward concluded: " We have been talking about this legislation for a decade and an entire generation of children have grown up while we talked about giving them the right to an identity. We must act now. Many people will be waking up today and will be traumatised by the news. At the very least we need to provide them with a statutory basis to establish the truth."

ENDS
 

Contact: Emma McKinley Tel: 01-662 9400 / 087 655 9067, Email: emma@childrensrights.ie 

Notes to Editor: Tanya Ward is available for comment and interview.

About the Children's Rights Alliance
Founded in 1995, the Children's Rights Alliance unites over 100 members working together to make Ireland one of the best places in the world to be a child. Further information is available at: www.childrensrights.ie or on Twitter, @ChildRightsIRL