Following the discovery of clear evidence of incorrect registration in the St. Patrick's Guild records, I directed that an analysis of adoption records be carried out to establish whether there is sufficient reliable evidence of the practice of incorrect registration that can be extracted from the records of adoption agencies.
This review is being overseen independently by Marion Reynolds. Ms. Reynolds (MBE, Bsc, Dip Soc Work, CQSW, Cert Adv Soc Work) is a former Deputy Director of Social Services in Northern Ireland. She has worked since 1975 at practitioner, management, inspection, policy development and commissioning levels in family and child care services in Northern Ireland. She now provides independent analysis and reports for a range of social service providers in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The first meeting between Ms. Reynolds and the nominated representatives from Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland took place in mid- June and I expect the final report within four months, i.e. by mid-October.
There are an estimated 150,000 adoption records in existence and, of these, approximately 100,000 are currently in the custody of the State. The review is focused on records in the custody of the State and a targeted sampling exercise in being carried out in the first instance owing to the volume of records involved. This targeted review will help to establish the extent of usable information that can be found in these historical records. The review will provide information to assist me in identifying more fully the scale of incorrect birth registrations.
The full terms of reference of the review are available on my Department's website.
