Referendum may be required on adoption issues

A referendum may be required to ensure children given up for adoption can access more information about their birth parents, Enda Kenny has insisted.

Speaking in the wake of the mother-and-baby home scandal, the Taoiseach said the Government was working on a new law to improve the situation for adoptive children, but the area was fraught with legal difficulties given the right to privacy in the Constitution.

“It would appear that a referendum might actually be required to deal with some of the issues involved. It’s not as simple as it looks,” Mr Kenny told the Dáil.