Children may have been ‘illegally’ adopted abroad

Irish children may have been illegally adopted from mother and baby homes by US and British couples after signatures from their birth mothers were "blatantly forged" by unknown officials.

Former RTÉ journalist Mike Milotte, who began investigating the scandal in 1997, raised the issue again after fresh concerns over what exactly occurred inside the now-closed Catholic Church-run facilities.

Speaking to RTÉ yesterday, Mr Milotte, author of Banished Babies, said he is aware of a large number of cases where “something very suspicious” was occurring among children who were sent to the US and Britain — often to families who had been turned down for adoptions in their own countries and who were paying religious groups for the Irish opportunity.