I rise to speak about the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill in the context of the stories that have been released in the past 24 hours by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone. There is nothing new about this story. We have all known this for a long time. I speak with some experience. I could have been adopted three times but my parents, individually, against all the odds, resisted the church and the State and refused to relinquish any of their seven children despite the judgments cast upon them and upon their fitness to be parents. In a way, 40 or 50 years later, I can now look back on that. However, I grew up from day one in what was described as a clearing house for adoptions. I grew up in the very building where the Wellcome drug trials took place. I was one of those subjected to them. I lived there. I want to draw the attention of Senators to one thing: Deputy Micheál Martin was Minister for Health when that matter came to light. One of his greatest political hours was his speech to Leinster House at the time. I am going to circulate it to every Member of both Houses today because he was the one who set up the inquiry, although it was overturned and found to be ultra vires . Hundreds and hundreds of boxes of information in respect of those matters were secured under court orders, but sadly that never went any further.

To return to the issue, for far too long people were denied knowledge of who they were, where they belonged, their history, their heritage and, for that matter, their religion. I will conclude because I am conscious of time, but I would ask the Leader if he would organise to have the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs come here in time. I specify in time because we need to speak with calmness. I will say one other thing before I make that ask. There are many people in this State, many of whom I know, who were adopted and who were exceptionally happy. Many people were facilitated with homes without going through the proper process but were happy. We cannot judge the past by the standards of today. There were many people in religious life who thought, perhaps misguidedly, that they were doing good and doing well for people. We know that in all of our families there were uncles, aunts and cousins who reared the children that nobody wanted. They did not do it out of badness or to mislead anybody. They did it to fill a vacuum and to give a child a bit of security, a bit of welfare and a bit of love. I want to paint that into the context because of how big an issue it is.

I will sum up by saying that every child should know where he or she was born, who his or her parents were, whether he or she had siblings, and whether he or she was inducted into a faith or religion or not. There is a bigger picture there. A lot of this could be dealt with through the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill. We should get that back on track. I would really welcome it if the Minister were to come and share her knowledge to date and to tell us why it has taken this long to come out with all of this. Why was it this week? Why not last week? A lot happens in a week in politics. We know what happened last week and we know that many things will happen next week. It is important for the Minister to come in. I would appreciate it if the Leader could raise that with her.

As certain Members will recall, last February our very important Oireachtas rugby team played a charity match against An Garda Síochána. It was great fun and a great way to meet and socialise. Senator Mark Daly is a surprisingly good right winger when he wants to be. However the more serious side is that match was played in order to raise awareness of and funds for the work of Pieta House. I join with other colleagues who have mentioned it today and yesterday and I ask the Leader to bring the Minister for Justice and Equality, and all of the other relevant Ministers, to the House to talk about mental health within our front-line services.

Seven members of An Garda Síochána have committed suicide in the past year. It is a scary number and it is something that is endemic across our front-line services including our fire-fighters, our paramedics and our Defence Forces. We really need to address this. It is not unique to Ireland. It is happening in countries around the world. We have all seen that, unfortunately, a number of extremely horrific crimes have been committed in recent weeks in Ireland including one close to my own home, that terrible murder in Rathmichael. It is the people who arrive at those scenes first who have to deal with the effects. Perhaps they go into the great unreported situations and talk people down off bridges, such as the M50 flyover on Blackglen Road. They often find themselves abandoned afterwards. I met a number of gardaí and a couple of paramedics earlier this week who struggle daily not just to deal with other people's mental health issues but with their own.

We need a new strategy to talk about the people we rely on the most in this State to make sure the State itself looks after them. I appeal to the Leader to organise that debate as soon as possible.

I had intended to raise the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill but as it has been very eloquently dealt with by the previous speaker, I will not try to bring out that type of sentiment again. However, it would be useful for the House if we could get that back on track, have an informed debate and try to get the legislation through.

I very much support the comments in regard to climate change and some very good points were made on natural fibres and how they are used. We also have to remember how this House voted in regard to microbeads. Microbeads are used not just in the cosmetic industry but also in the clothing industry and, in the context of controlling the licensing of that, unfortunately, the vote in the House was lost. However, I believe a good job of work could be done by the House in regard to concentrating on how we use natural fibres, whether in the wool industry or in regard to what comes from the agricultural sector within Ireland.

Many people have been praised in regard to the recent referendum, in particular the many young people who engaged in the referendum on both sides. Democracy is a good thing and to see people engaging in debate on the eighth amendment was worthwhile. I am heartened to see the number of people who participated in the referendum. When driving around the city today, I asked myself whether there is something practical we could do. A high number of volunteers on both sides went out, knocked on doors and put up posters, but the Litter Pollution Act means that anyone who put up a poster will be fined from Friday if it is not taken down. Taking into consideration that many of those involved in the referendum were young activists on both sides who did this in their own time as volunteers, I ask that the Leader might ask the Minister to extend the period until Tuesday to give people an opportunity to get the posters down. Political parties are well used to the idea of getting their posters down but this was civic society engaged in democracy and I think we should give a little extra time. I want to compliment people on the number of posters that have already been taken down and, in the main, they have disappeared from our roads and country lanes. To give volunteers a little leniency until Tuesday, after the bank holiday, would give both sides the opportunity to get those posters down without being fined.