Only 1% of adopted trace their identity via register

Just 1% of an estimated 60,000 adopted people in Ireland have traced their identity through the system the Government plans to introduce on a statutory basis so adopted people and natural parents can find each other.

The National Contact Preference Register (NACPR), which is run by the Adoption Authority (AAI), was introduced in 2005 on a non-statutory basis and since then has matched a little more than 600 people out of an estimated 60,000 adopted people — a success rate of 1%.

Even when you take into account the fact that a little more than 10,000 adopted people and natural parents have signed up to the register, this success rate rises to just 5%.