By Joleen Murphy
A call for adoptees to get birth certs before 'more people die without meeting their family' has been brought before the Dail.
The Civil Registration Amendment Bill 2021, if passed, would allow all adopted people in Ireland access to their birth records.
This bill will give people the legal right to obtain a copy of their own birth certificate.
Sinn Féin spokesperson on children and Carlow Kilkenny TD Kathleen Funchion says government needs a different course of investigation that would hold those accountable.
"We need to get to the bottom of this once and for all.
"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 conduct an investigation and sail off into the sunset without crucial questions being answered."
She went on to say that everyone has the right to know who they are.
"So many of us probably take this for granted and I include myself. It is incredible to think that in 2021 people are still being denied access to this very, very basic information.
"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.
"They have the right to know on what date they were born and at what time.
"They have the right to know their birth parents names.
“The right to have information about who you are should be a fundamental right, which no-one is denied.
"The state can no longer hide from its obligations."
The bill has received support from a number of TD's including Wexford's Verona Murphy.
