A quarter of babies sent to US from Sean Ross Abbey

Nearly a quarter of the babies born to Irish mothers and exported to the US for adoption were born at the Sean Ross Abbey, Co Tipperary, the convent at the centre of the film Philomena.

Adoption rights groups have suggested that the high rates could be for “geographic reasons”, as it was so close to Shannon airport.

Department of Foreign Affairs records show that, of the 1,962 babies sent abroad for adoption between 1950 and 1974, 1,911 went to the US and approximately 438 of these children came from Sean Ross Abbey.