The Gazette 1971

allow for the expression of the widest variety of view- points and should confirm the intention of retaining Stormont as a legislative forum. Sufficient guarantee could be given of the maintenance of the link with Westminster by the continued presence there of twelve

dom passed after 3rd May 1921. If a statute is so passed, it is ultra vires and may be held void by any Court in Northern Ireland. By Section 50 of the 1920 Act, there is always an appeal to the Court of Appeal in cases involving the validity of a statute where there would not otherwise be any such appeal. Consequently, the Courts of Northern Ireland are accustomed to reviewing the Constitutionality of legislation—a role never demanded of English Courts since the Parliament of Westminster is supreme. If a Bill of Rights were adopted and given the same status as the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, this role of the Northern Courts could extend to the protection of individual' rights of the citizen. This subject matter is clearly within the jurisdiction of the Sotrmont Parlia- ment as pertaining to the maintenance of peace and preservation of order in the province. CONCLUSION What has been set out is the mere framework of a possible Constitutional solution of the "Irish Question". An attempt has been made to adopt a functional and realistic approach, retaining the existing institutions in Dublin and Belfast, with the link between the Northern Parliament and Westminster. Conceptual phrases such as "sovereignty" and "recognition" have been avoided deliberatelyi n an attempt to cut through such artificial barriers to co-operation and interdependence. We want to join Europe and participate in the E.E.C.; can we not join the North and participate with each other? The Irish Times (8th July 1970) for withdrawn consent in the meantime. If she withdraws consent, I would ask for some procedure whereby she should prove that she has a home for the child before he is returned to her care." Fr. Good called as well for changes in the adminis- tration of the law. "As is well known, half of the Adoption Board resigned some months ago in protest against the way the board was administering its affairs. This resignation made public what many have believed over the years, namely that its constitution leaves the board open to manipulation by a small number of civil servants who are not members of it." Fr. Good made a plea for the Hierarchy to take another look at baptismal certificates for adopted chil- dren. He said that there were now over 15,000 legally adopted people in this country, and the baptismal certi- ficate made available to them by the National Synod of Mayhooth in 1956 was a very miserable document. "An American Catholic memorandum to which I have had access makes the point that 'baptismal records should never become the occasion of loss of reputation to any- one', and the American hierarchy have made available a perfectly adequate baptismal certificate for adopted children which is in effect identical with that made available to other children. To me it is a simple case of copying the American procedure; there is no difficulty —theological, juridical or social—against it." Fr. Good said that the provision whereby mixed marriages are prohibited from legally adopting a child is unconstitutional and he hoped it would go over- board in the very near future. The Irish Times

Northern M.P.s The Executive

The Government of Northern Ireland — within its limited powers — is also based on the Cabinet system, and the Ministers are members of the Northern Ireland Parliament. The Queen's repre- sentative is the Governor of Northern Ireland, whose position is regulated by Section 37 of the 1920 Act and the First Schedule of the Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1922, which also provides for a Privy Council and a Great Seal of Northern Ireland. Section 8 of the 1920 Act provides for the establishmet of Government Departments, and these are further regu- lated by the Ministries of Northern Ireland Acts (N.I.) 1921, 1944 and 1946. There appears to be no Consti- tutional bar to extending the size of this Government to include a member of the delegation from the South sitting in the Stormont Parliament. The Judiciary Section 6 of the 1920 Act enacts that, except where otherwise provided, the Parliament of Northern Ireland shall not have power to repeal or alter any provision of the Government of Ireland Act or of any Act of the Parliament or delegated legislation of the United King- A reform of the Adoption Act whereby a mother should sign a provisional consent on the surrender of the baby, which would become automatic in three months, was proposed by the Rev. James Good, the educationalist, who was speaking in Limerick last night. Fr. Good, who had been given the responsibility for the formation of the Cork Adoption Society, said that this would end the "dog-in-the-manger" attitude of some mothers. He was addressing the members of the Limerick branch of Tuairim, in the Savoy Rooms, and said : "Adoption is not for getting children for childless marriages, nor for relieving unmarried mothers of their responsibility, nor indeed for saving the State the cost of keeping children in orphanages. Adoption is prim- arily and above all else a process for finding a home and a family for a homeless child." "When we look at our Adoption Acts we find that they are not child-centred but mother-centred. Right through the adoption law of this country, the dominant idea is that the child is the property of the mother, and that short of killing him or physically maltreating him, she can do just what she likes with him. She can give him for adoption and reclaim him at will, and having reclaimed her baby, she can go through the same process again if she wishes and break up a second or third family by her indecision. "I suggest therefore that the mother should sign a provisional consent on the surrender of the baby and that this should become automatic three months later without further recourse to the mother, unless she has

Reformed Adoption Act called

44