State was aware of illegal birth registrations 'for decades' but did not act

The state was aware of the practice of illegal birth registration for decades before any serious action was taken, and its 'ad hoc, piecemeal, delayed' reaction to it 'has added significantly to the trauma caused', according to the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection. Picture: PA 

The Special Rapporteur on Child Protection has said the State was aware of the practice of illegal birth registration for decades before any serious action was taken, and its "ad hoc, piecemeal, delayed" reaction to it "has added significantly to the trauma caused".

In a damning report published on Monday, entitled proposals for a State Response to Illegal Birth Registrations in Ireland, Professor Conor O'Mahony also recommends the establishment of a truth commission on adoption, claiming illegal birth registrations "were not an isolated practice."

Illegal birth registrations — where a birth certificate is falsified to register a child as having been born to his or her adoptive parents — has been illegal for almost 150 years, yet an independent review of a sample of records held by Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland found in 2019 that up to 20,000 adoption records could potentially relate to cases of illegal birth registration. That included the use of false names or false dates of birth, the absence of valid consent to adoption, and profiteering from adoptions.

Aware

Prof O'Mahony, who is deputy dean of the School of Law at UCC, was asked by Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman to write a report and it concludes: "The State was aware of the practice of illegal birth registration for decades before any serious action was taken to investigate the practice and mitigate its effects; and that the action taken to date falls short of remedying the violation of the right to identity for many of those affected. The ad hoc, piecemeal and delayed reaction of the various State bodies to illegal birth registrations failed to discharge the State’s obligation to ensure accurate registration of births and to correct inaccurate registrations, and exacerbated the impact of the practice on affected individuals."

Instead, he said people informed they were the subject of an illegal birth registration must be legally entitled to access files relating to their birth, early life and medical information without delay, and given the required supports "to assist them in reconstructing their identity".

Response

Professor Conor O'Mahony, deputy dean of the School of Law at UCC and Special Rapporteur on Child Protection. Picture Tomas Tyner, UCC

On the State response, Prof O'Mahony said: "Specific cases of illegal birth registration were not definitively proven as such until 2018; however, this section will demonstrate that the likelihood that adoption societies may have been engaged in this practice had been known about since at least the early 1950s. Moreover, St Patrick’s Guild directly admitted to the practice in 1992. This raises the question of why almost no State action was taken to address the issue until 2010, and it remains unresolved for many individuals affected.

The delay in taking action to address the issue of illegal birth registrations has greatly exacerbated the original violation of the right to identity. The passage of several decades means that many of the parents and some of the children affected have died; thus, they have been denied any opportunity of finding out about the violation of the right to identity and the possibility of rectifying it and re-establishing contact with their relatives.

"Many of those who are alive are of advanced years and/or experiencing ill health, and may not have the luxury of time to wait to reconstruct their identity and establish connections with family members. In all cases, irrespective of the age or health of those involved, the delay in dealing with the issue has added significantly to the trauma caused."

Exacerbated

The report also outlines the obstacles placed in people's path as they sought information about their origins.

"In Ireland, one factor that has exacerbated the trauma experienced by persons informed of the illegal registration of their birth was their inability to access files that would uncover the truth of their birth and early life," the report said. 

"During consultation meetings, persons affected by illegal birth registration expressed deep hurt at being told that their identity had been falsified but simultaneously being told that they were not allowed to access the files that demonstrate this to be the case and that might allow them to reconstruct their identities.

A further point of concern is the inability of affected persons to access information about their biological origins that may impact their health."

But Prof O'Mahony said: "The risk of trauma arising from informing an individual that they were the subject of an illegal birth registration cannot be invoked as a justification for withholding that information from them."

As for what should happen now, he said an upscaled, comprehensive audit might take too long for people for whom time is a precious commodity, a situation exacerbated by "the fragmentation of records".

Instead, it recommends following up on the files marked as suspicious in the course of the earlier review of 2019, alongside the establishment on a non-statutory basis of a State inquiry into illegal adoptions. It said at least one member of the inquiry could be a person affected by illegal adoption.

Referencing the work published in the Irish Examiner over many years by Conall O'Fatharta, the report recommends this inquiry would be in the form of a truth commission on adoption.