Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 7 September 2018
1173. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when her attention was first drawn to the fact that the Adoption Authority of Ireland sent three reports on illegal birth registrations to her Department; if she has received those reports; her views in respect of those reports; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36976/18]
View answer1179. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the occasions the attention of her Department was drawn by the Adoption Authority of Ireland to the possibilities of illegal registration; when the attention of her Department or her predecessors were drawn to this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36982/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1173 and 1179 together.
I am aware the Adoption Authority of Ireland has made a number of reports to my Department on the issue of illegal birth registrations.
The Adoption Authority of Ireland undertook a review in 2010 of cases where information had been received through the National Adoption Contact Preference Register but where no adoption order existed. It carried out a cross referencing exercise with the GRO on these cases. Based on this process there was a concern in relation to illegal birth registrations in these and a number of other cases.
However, it has not to date been possible for the Adoption Authority of Ireland to reach the high level of certainty, following a rigorous process, that these individuals' births were in fact illegally registered as was achieved by Tusla in relation to the recent 126 Saint Patrick's Guild cases.
In the case of Saint Patrick's Guild, it was possible to identify and corroborate illegal registrations on the basis of the information on the files, and in particular the marker "adopted from birth".
The process for the potential cases identified by the AAI is not as straightforward. It may not be possible to identify a record in each case, as the only records in the possession of the Adoption Authority are domestic adoption records from 1953 and a small number of records from former adoption societies. If such records do exist for a case, there is no guarantee that the same level of evidence exists would be on the file which would allow the Adoption Authority of Ireland or Tusla to be satisfied to the same high level of certainty in the Saint Patrick's Guild cases that these individuals' births were in fact illegally registered.
However following the emergence of the Saint Patrick's Guild cases, I asked the Adoption Authority of Ireland to carry out a further review of their cases to see if further facts can be established. It will carry out this work with the assistance of Tusla.
