Call for adoption bill to address medical, identity issues

Thousands of people who were adopted at birth are being denied access to basic information about their family medical history due to an absence of legislation, according to experts.

Law lecturer at University College Cork, Dr Aisling Parkes, has called for the introduction of legislation to give people who were adopted an automatic right to non-identifying information regarding the health of their birth parents and their medical history.

Legislation is also needed to give people the right to information regarding the identity of their biological parents, subject to a veto by the parents, Dr Parkes said.