THE door should not be closed on the need to consult, for adoption purposes, the natural father of a child conceived during a holiday romance, Mr Michael Mulcahy (FF) said.
It was possible for people to fall in love very quickly, he said. In cases where voluntary intercourse led to the birth of a child, he was not sure whether there should not be an obligation on the mother to disclose the name of the father to the relevant adoption board or society. There would be problems in implementing this, but he would leave the door ajar.
Mr Mulcahy said that in general where an unmarried mother was placing a child for adoption, there should be a fairly strong onus on her to inform the adoption society or board of the identity of the natural father, as was intended in the Bill before the House. Every effort should be made to ensure the natural father consented to the adoption.
Mr Mulcahy was speaking in the debate on the Adoption Bill, which passed second stage in the House.
Introducing the measure, the Minister of State for Health, Mr Austin Currie, said cases would inevitably arise where it would be inappropriate to consult a father about a proposed adoption placement.
These included instances where a child was conceived as a result of a holiday romance and the father was not even aware of the birth of the child. In such circumstances, it would be unreasonable to require an adoption agency to contact the father, since such a relationship could not be deemed to have the hallmark of a family life within the meaning of the European Convention on Human Rights. Similar considerations would apply in the case of rape or incest, he added.