Law allowed ‘charities’ to exempt themselves from oversight

Detailed 80-year-old legislation gave Government a clear right to all records on child deaths and adoptions in mother-and-baby homes as they happened — but allowed "charities" to exempt themselves from the oversight.

The situation is outlined in the Registration of Maternity Homes Act, 1934 — a law only passed in response to concerns over standards of care at maternity facilities, including religious-run “not-for-profit” mother-and-baby homes.

Documents obtained after a trawl of legal records by the Irish Examiner show the law, which remains on the statute, allowed Government unrestricted access to details, that 80 years later, it is only now searching for.