A three-year investigation into Mother and Baby Homes will be conducted following the revelations last year about the deaths of almost 800 children at the Tuam home, the Government confirmed today.

Nearly a quarter of the babies born to Irish mothers and exported to the US for adoption were born at the Sean Ross Abbey, Co Tipperary, the convent at the centre of the film Philomena.

Two seven-year-old girls have handed ministers a petition signed by 30,000 people demanding a judge lead the inquiry into church-run, state-sanctioned institutions for single mothers.

A campaign aimed at shaming the Irish State into opening an estimated 60,000 adoption files is gathering pace on the back of Oscar-nominated film Philomena.

The real-life inspiration behind the film Philomena told a star-studded audience in Hollywood that mothers in Ireland forced to give up their children for adoption have “yet to receive the justice they deserve”.

There are lots of Philomena Lees in Ireland, writes Conall Ó Fátharta