Knowing identity a basic human right denied to apopted

To say a forced adoption policy was not pursued here is laughable, says Conall Ó Fátharta

IT’S somewhat ironic that, almost a year to the day since Enda Kenny apologised on behalf of the State to the women incarcerated in Magdalene Laundries, we see President Michael D Higgins broach another barely hidden scandal — the removal of tens of thousands of children from their mothers through forced and often illegal adoptions.

It tells you a lot about so-called modern, progressive Ireland that it has taken until 2014 for someone in high office to call for open adoption records and the provision of the most basic of identity rights to adopted people. The right to an identity is a fundamental human right denied to thousands of adopted people here. Adopted people and natural parents have no right to copies of all material held in their files. Natural mothers do not even have the right to read their own adoption files.