2. (1) In this Act—

“Act of 2004” means the Civil Registration Act 2004;

“Act of 2010” means the Adoption Act 2010;

“accredited body” has the meaning it has in section 3 of the Act of 2010;

“adopted child” means an adopted person who has not attained the age of 18 years;

“adopted person” means a person—

(a) adopted under an adoption order,

(b) born in the State and—

(i) placed for adoption outside the State by An Bord Uchtála, a person who was at the time a registered adoption society, the Authority or the Agency, or

(ii) removed from the State by any other person for the purpose of the effecting of his or her adoption outside the State,

and whose adoption was effected outside the State,

(c) adopted, in accordance with the law in force in the place at the time of the adoption, in a place outside the State, where the particulars of his or her adoption are entered in the register of intercountry adoptions, or

(d) otherwise adopted in accordance with the law in force in the State at the time of the adoption;

“adoption order” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2010;

“adoptive parent” means, in relation to an adopted person, a person who has adopted him or her, and “adoptive father” and “adoptive mother” shall be construed accordingly;

“Agency” means the Child and Family Agency;

“AIRR Archive” means the database of historical child care records compiled by the Department of Health under the Access to Institutional and Related Records Project;

“authorised officer” means an authorised officer appointed under section 51;

“Authority” means the Adoption Authority of Ireland;

“birth certificate” means a document issued under section 13(4) of the Civil Registration Act 2004;

“birth information” means, in relation to a person, the following information relating to the person at the time of his or her birth:

(a) the date, place and time of his or her birth;

(b) his or her sex;

(c) his or her forename and surname;

(d) the forename, surname, birth surname, address, occupation, date of birth, civil status and, where applicable, former surname of his or her mother;

(e) the birth surname of his or her mother’s mother;

(f) the forename, surname, birth surname, address, occupation, date of birth, civil status and, where applicable, former surname of his or her father;

(g) the birth surname of his or her father’s mother;

“boarded out arrangement” means an arrangement under which a child was placed by a local authority or health board in a foster home at which care of the child was provided in exchange for a fee;

“care arrangement” means—

(a) a nursed out arrangement,

(b) a boarded out arrangement,

(c) an arrangement under which a child was placed with a foster parent—

(i) subject to subparagraph (ii), within the meaning of section 36(2) of the Child Care Act 1991, or

(ii) where the arrangement concerned was made before the coming into operation of the provision referred to in subparagraph (i), in accordance with the law in force in the State at the time the arrangement was made,

whether or not the foster parent became the adoptive parent of the child,

(d) an arrangement made under section 36(1)(d) of the Child Care Act 1991, under which a child was placed with a relative,

(e) an arrangement under which a child was cared for as a resident of an institution specified in the Schedule , or

(f) an arrangement under which a child was placed with a prospective adoptive parent, whether or not the prospective adoptive parent became the adoptive parent of the child;

“care information” means, in relation to a person who, at any time in the period following his or her birth and ending on the date on which he or she attained the age of 18 years, was the subject of a care arrangement, information in relation to the care arrangement, and includes—

(a) the name of any person who was a party to the care arrangement,

(b) where the person was cared for as a resident of an institution specified in the Schedule —

(i) the name of the person in charge of the institution, and

(ii) where the person was cared for in a part of the institution, the name of the person in charge of that part,

at the time the care was provided,

(c) the place at which the care was provided,

(d) the dates on which the care arrangement commenced and ceased, and

(e) the name of the person who made the care arrangement;

“data controller” has the meaning it has in the General Data Protection Regulation;

“designated person” shall be construed in accordance with section 19;

“early life information” means, in relation to a person, information that relates to him or her at any time in the period following his or her birth and ending on the date on which he or she attained the age of 18 years and includes—

(a) the place at which he or she resided and the dates during which he or she resided at that place,

(b) where applicable, information relating to his or her baptism or any other ceremony of a religious or spiritual nature performed in the period in respect of him or her, which shall include, where available—

(i) information on the date and place of the baptism or ceremony,

(ii) in the case of his or her baptism—

(I) the certificate of baptism, and

(II) the entry in a register of baptisms,

and

(iii) in the case of any other ceremony of a religious or spiritual nature performed on him or her, any equivalent document to a document specified in subparagraph (ii),

(c) his or her birth weight,

(d) a photograph or other image of him or her,

(e) information on his or her health, physical or emotional development,

(f) information on any medical treatments, procedures or vaccinations administered to him or her,

(g) the duration of the period during which his or her mother remained with him or her in the same place of residence, and the dates on which that period commenced and ended,

(h) information on whether he or she left the place referred to in paragraph (g) with, or separately from, his or her mother,

(i) information on whether any person visited or inquired in relation to him or her, which information includes the name of the other person and, where applicable, the degree of relationship of the other person to him or her,

(j) information on whether any person made arrangements for the adoption of the person, whether or not an adoption was effected in respect of him or her, which information includes the name of the person who made the arrangements, and

(k) where an adoption was effected in respect of him or her, the name of each adoptive parent;

“electronic communications technology” means technology that enables real time transmission and real time two-way audio-visual or audio communication;

“father” means, in relation to a person, the man who, at the time of the person’s birth, was his or her father;

“General Data Protection Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016¹ on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation);

“genetic relative” means, in relation to a person—

(a) his or her mother or father,

(b) a child or parent of his or her mother or father,

(c) a sibling, uncle, aunt or first-cousin of his or her mother or father, whether the relationship is of the whole blood or half blood, or

(d) a person to whom, but for the adoption of any person, paragraph (b) or (c) would apply;

“genetic relative information” means, in relation to a person, the following information:

(a) whether the person has a genetic relative, or had such a relative who is deceased;

(b) where the person has a genetic sibling or had such a sibling who is deceased—

(i) the sex of the genetic sibling, and

(ii) whether the genetic sibling is or was older or younger than the person;

“genetic sibling” means, in relation to a person, a person who shares the same mother or father, or both, as him or her;

“incorrect birth registration information” means, in relation to a person who is the subject of an incorrect birth registration—

(a) the circumstances under which the person became the subject of an incorrect birth registration, and

(b) the name of the person who made arrangements for the incorrect birth registration;

“information source” means a primary information source or a secondary information source;

“local authority” means a local authority within the meaning of section 2 of the Local Government Act 2001;

“medical information” means, in relation to a person, information relating to his or her medical history;

“medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner who is for the time being registered in the register of medical practitioners established under section 43 of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007;

“Minister” means the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth;

“mother” means, in relation to a person, the woman who gave birth to him or her;

“National Adoption Contact Preference Register” means the register of contact preferences of that name established in 2005 and, immediately before the date on which section 42 comes into operation, maintained by the Authority;

“nursed out arrangement” means an arrangement—

(a) under which a child was placed in a foster home at which care of the child was provided in exchange for a fee, and

(b) notice of which was required by or under the Children Act 1908 to be given to a local authority;

“parent” subject to section 32(7) and 38(16), means, in relation to a person, his or her mother or father;

“personal data” has the meaning it has in the General Data Protection Regulation;

“prescribe” means prescribe by regulation;

“primary information source” means the Authority or the Agency;

“processing” has the meaning it has in the General Data Protection Regulation;

“provided item” means an item, including a letter, photograph, memento or other document or object held by a relevant body that was provided, whether to the Agency, Authority or any other person, by or on behalf of a parent or genetic relative of a relevant person, or another person involved in the provision of care of the relevant person, for the purpose of its being made available to the relevant person in the event that it were to be sought by or on behalf of him or her, whether the items have been so provided before, on or after the date on which—

(a) this section comes into operation, or

(b) the relevant person became a relevant person,

and includes an item lodged in accordance with section 39(1);

“register of births” means a register of births maintained by An tArd-Chláraitheoir under section 13(1)(a) of the Act of 2004, as amended, or under the repealed enactments (within the meaning of that Act);

“registered adoption society” means a registered adoption society within the meaning of section 3 of the Adoption Act 1952;

“relevant body” means one of the following:

(a) the Agency;

(b) the Authority;

(c) a body that is designated under section 61;

“relevant guardian” means, in relation to an adopted person, the person who, at the time of the adoption of the adopted person, was his or her guardian and—

(a) consented, in accordance with section 26 of the Act of 2010, to the making of an adoption order in respect of the adopted person, or

(b) otherwise, and in accordance with the law in force in the State at the time of the adoption, consented to the adoption;

“relevant person” means a person who is one or more than one of the following—

(a) an adopted person,

(b) a person who is, or who has reasonable grounds for suspecting that he or she is, the subject of an incorrect birth registration, or

(c) a person who has been, or who has reasonable grounds for suspecting that he or she has been, at any time in the period following his or her birth and ending on the date on which he or she attained the age of 18 years—

(i) resident in an institution specified in the Schedule, or

(ii) the subject of a nursed out arrangement or a boarded out arrangement;

“relevant record” means a record—

(a) relating to a relevant person that contains birth information, early life information, care information or medical information relating to him or her, or a photograph or other image of his mother, father or other genetic relative,

(b) containing or noting a communication from a parent or genetic relative relating to a relevant person, that is held by the Agency, the Authority or a secondary information source,

(c) containing or noting a communication from a relevant person relating to a parent or genetic relative that is held by the Agency, the Authority or a secondary information source,

(d) held by the Department of Foreign Affairs relating to the departure from the State, in the period commencing on 1 January 1940 and ending on 31 December 1979, of a child—

(i) for the purpose of the effecting of his or her adoption outside the State, or

(ii) adopted under an adoption order by a person resident in a place outside the State, for the purpose of the child residing with the person,

or

(e) prescribed, or a record of a class prescribed, under section 43(1);

“secondary information source” means one of the following:

(a) the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth;

(b) the Minister for Education;

(c) the Minister for Foreign Affairs;

(d) the Minister for Health;

(e) the data controller of the AIRR archive;

(f) the Health Service Executive;

(g) a registered adoption society;

(h) an accredited body;

(i) a person prescribed under section 43(2);

“special categories of personal data” has the meaning it has in the Data Protection Act 2018.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, a person (“first mentioned person”) is the subject of an incorrect birth registration where—

(a) as a result of the giving of information that was false or misleading, the name of a person other than the mother of the first mentioned person was entered in the register of births as the mother of the first mentioned person, and

(b) the person named as mother and, if applicable, father in the entry assumed the role of a parent in relation to the first mentioned person and treated the first mentioned person as her or their lawful child,

whether or not the entry has been corrected or cancelled pursuant to Part 3B (inserted by Part 9) or section 63, 64 or 65 of the Act of 2004.