Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is to deliver a personal apology to Majella Moynihan, who was threatened with dismissal from An Garda Síochana for having pre-marital sex with another garda recruit and for giving birth to a baby out of wedlock.

The Children’s Minister’s failure thus far to consult us about the Adoption Bill, which is being rushed, adds insult to decades of injury, says Claire McGettrick

Speaking ahead of a debate in the Seanad on the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016, Ms Zappone said she accepts there is criticism but she does not agree with it.

The new Bill “pushes to the boundaries” and represents “a major step forward” she told RTE radio’s Morning Ireland.

Adoption rights campaigners have hit out at children's minister Katherine Zappone's failure to consult them about the Government's latest amendments to its long-promised information and tracing legislation.

Adoption campaigners have said the long-delayed scoping exercise into illegal registrations is a “cosmetic” exercise as it is not looking at illegal adoptions.

A spokesperson for the Adoption Rights Alliance has said that the proposal that adopted men and women will no longer be forced to sign an “undertaking” saying they won’t contact their natural parents in order to get access to their birth cert information “doesn’t mean a hell of a lot.”

Irish survivors of abuse will join international academics and activists in Boston today for a major conference on transitional justice.

The remains of hundreds of infants buried in a mass grave in Tuam will be exhumed as part of a “full forensic examination” of the site of the former mother and baby home.

The State is “perpetuating the abuse” suffered by victims of forced and illegal adoptions by refusing to grant adopted people full access to their personal files and birth records.

Thousands of people may come forward to sue the State and religious orders over forced and illegal adoptions following the settlement of a high-profile case in the High Court.

Leo Varadkar has claimed that “what’s different” about the latest revelations in relation to St Patrick’s Guild is that this is the first time we have found “documentary evidence” of such cases.

Any audit of adoption records needs to examine all forms of illegal adoption and not just illegal birth registrations.

Adoption campaigners want an immediate inquiry into the scale of illegal adoptions — a call they have repeatedly made for years.

A number of requests by mother and baby home survivors to have their evidence heard in public have been refused by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission.

Adoption campaigners have queried why the Mother and Baby Homes Commission has taken three years to issue a public call for information relating to the burials of children who died at the Bessborough home.

Campaigners have called on the Government to start excavations at other mother and baby home sites after Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone said she is in favour of such a move.

Adopted people are being stigmatised in the same manner as their mothers were, decades before, with the Government’s proposed new information and tracing legislation.

Immediate redress for thousands of unaccompanied children who were in mother and baby homes has been rejected by the Government.

An amnesty from prosecution for those involved in facilitating illegal adoptions has been suggested by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission.

Mother and baby home campaigners have said as many as 180 institutions that dealt with unmarried mothers and children need to be examined by the commission.

Excavations at other mother and baby homes are being demanded after the discovery of “significant quantities” of infant remains at Tuam.

Adopted people and natural mothers have given a mixed reaction to new legislation granting them basic information and tracing rights.

Adoption groups have called for “a full criminal investigation” into the alteration of files relating to vaccine trials at Bessborough Mother and Baby Home.

More than 13,000 files from St Patrick’s Guild adoption agency have transferred to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency — almost three years after the agency ceased to operate.

Justice for Magdalenes Research and Adoption Rights Alliance have launched a pro-bono legal initiative to assist witnesses drafting statements to the state commission of inquiry.

The Government has offered no concrete timeframe for a new law to allow adopted people to access their birth information — almost a year after a bill was introduced last summer.

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission has yet to decide whether to ask for an extension of its remit to examine other institutions.

Tens of thousands of adopted people were unable to complete the Census accurately as they have no legal right to their birth information.

The number of Irish couples adopting foreign children has plummeted since 2010 because the system has become too complex.

Over 1,000 adopted people are languishing on waiting lists, seeking a service to help them discover their natural relatives.

There has been a mixed response to the Government’s planned legislation on adoption, information, and tracing.

Philomena Lee, whose devotion to finding her adopted son inspired a recent film, has called for a more open adoption system here to allow people access their “genetic entitlement”.

Adopted people and natural parents have given a cautious welcome to the Government’s proposed tracing and information legislation.

Adoption rights campaigners have said “serious questions” need to be answered as to why concerns raised by the HSE about Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in 2012 were not acted upon at the time.

Adoption campaigners are concerned that tens of thousands of unmarried women and girls whose children were forcibly or illegally adopted will be excluded from the upcoming mother and baby homes inquiry.

The Government is under mounting pressure to include Magdalene laundries, private adoption agencies and a myriad of related institutions in the upcoming mother and baby home inquiry.

Adoption campaigners have again expressed concerns that tens of thousands of people could be excluded from the mother and baby home inquiry.

Children’s Minister James Reilly yesterday published the terms of reference for an inquiry called on for many years to no avail.

Tens of thousands of people affected by the mother and baby homes scandal risk being excluded from a State investigation into the decades-long hidden crisis.

The terms of reference for the new investigation into mother and baby homes received a broad welcome — but also criticism over its exclusion of Magdalene Laundries and adoptions involving state hospitals.

Children’s minister James Reilly has said he is “confident” the planned mother and baby home inquiry will have the support of “those most centrally involved”.