Plans to give adopted people the right to access their birth certificates are expected to be approved by Cabinet this morning.
Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman is bringing proposed Birth Information and Tracing legislation before his government colleagues.
It’s expected new legislation will be published this afternoon giving adopted people the right to their original birth cert and early life documents.
The legislation will likely change the long standing situation where the right to privacy of the birth mother took precedence over the rights of the adopted person.
It’s part of a busy cabinet agenda.
Senior Ministers will be updated on proposals to curb the influence of property investment funds in Ireland at a meeting this morning.
Ministers Darragh O’Brien and Paschal Donohoe have been working on changes to planning and tax laws to stop investment funds buying up new housing estates.
Full plans will come later this week and the Dáil debates the issue this evening.
Later tonight Sinn Féin will bring a motion before the Dáil calling for all tax breaks given to these international investors to be scrapped. Donegal TD’s Pearse Doherty and Padraig Mac Lochlainn have both voiced their support for the bill in recent days.
The Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin expects it will get broad support on the opposition benches:
Cabinet Ministers are also set to consider proposals to make it easier for victims of human trafficking to come forward to state authorities.
At the minute only gardaí can identify victims and refer them to support services.
A range of state bodies will be allowed to do that under the new plans – taking into account the reluctance some people may have to approach a police force after experiences in their own country.
Education Minister Norma Foley is also bringing forward plans to significantly expand the range of summer programmes for children with special educational needs or those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with a doubling of the funding available to 40m euro.
