Illegal adoption redress scheme may be required

The revelation that potentially thousands of people may have had their births falsified so they could be illegally adopted may have profound legal consequences — including for inheritance rights.

On Tuesday, Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone revealed that Tusla had uncovered 126 cases where births were illegally registered between 1946 and 1969 in the records of St Patrick’s Guild. The records transferred to the agency in 2016.

Writing in this newspaper, solicitor Rossa McMahon of PG McMahon Solicitors says a redress scheme is likely to be needed to deal with the “appalling vista” of illegal adoptions. He writes that there could be “significant difficulties” with regard to inheritance.