More than 1,200 applications made for birth information in a week

Adoption Authority CEO Patricia Carey said: “People who were adopted, boarded out or had their birth information illegally registered in Ireland have waited a very long time for this legislation.”

More than 1,200 people have applied for their birth information to the Adoption Authority of Ireland since the applications opened a week ago.

While most have come from Irish residents, the AAI has received applications from the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Germany and France, among others. The right to request this information came with the Birth Information and Tracing Act which was signed into law earlier this year.

The Department of Children said it provides a “full and clear right of access to birth certificates, birth and early life information” for all people who were adopted, boarded out, the subject of an illegal birth registration or who otherwise have questions about their origins.

The tracing service will enable people who are affected and those connected to them to actively seek contact or share information, with counselling and support services available on request and free of charge.

However, some advocacy groups working in this area said the legislation didn’t go far enough to include all those people affected.

In a briefing note on the legislation, Clann Project said: “The requirement for certain adopted people to attend a mandatory Information Session where the importance of privacy is explained to them does not represent atonement or ‘redress’.

“Nor does the Bill’s exclusion of most mothers and relatives from the right to personal and family information held in files in the custody of the State and religious orders.” 

Clann, the joint initiative of the Adoption Rights Alliance and JFM Research, said the bill as it is currently constituted would mean adopted people are seen as “not capable of respecting the privacy others” and that it would “send a demoralising message to mothers and relatives that their information rights do not matter”.

When the portal launched to lodge applications on Monday, October 3, there were what Tusla described as “early technical difficulties” that meant some were unable to access it initially, but these have been resolved.

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Adoption Authority CEO Patricia Carey said on Tuesday that her organisation is working through all applications “as quickly and professionally as possible” to ensure every applicant receives any information about their birth and early years that they hold.

To date, 1,288 applications were made to the AAI with 1,176 of them coming from people living in Ireland. The largest number of applications came from people in Dublin (419), Cork (162), Kildare (53) and Meath (52). The county with the fewest applications was Leitrim with six.

In the UK, there were 48 applications made including 13 from Northern Ireland. A further 28 came from people resident in the USA, 13 in Australia, six in Germany, four in the Netherlands and two apiece from France and Canada.

Other countries where residents made applications for the birth information included Cyprus, Poland, Austria, New Zealand, Jamaica and Hong Kong.

Ms Carey described this as an “incredible response” since the scheme’s launch. “People who were adopted, boarded out or had their birth information illegally registered in Ireland have waited a very long time for this legislation,” she added.