Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I listened to the story recounted by Deputy Clare Daly and I am glad it has worked out in this particular case. I think the Deputy mentioned the child was born in 1966, which would mean she now is 47. I am unsure whether that women was actively seeking her mother or her mother actively looking for her. Clearly, this was a good ending to a long-running saga in which a mother was looking for her natural born baby. As for the figure of 25,000 people, I do not know how many of that number, mothers or children, are actively looking for one another. I will ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to meet the alliance - I do not know whether such a meeting already has taken place - to ascertain if what the Deputy has outlined is true in respect of other cases. Clearly, the position has changed and people are entitled to find their natural parents and vice versa and that might be a useful engagement. I regret that it has taken a situation for the Deputy to raise it here on Leaders' Questions but it is an important, sensitive and personal issue and I am glad the Deputy's involvement has brought about this meeting and this acquaintance between mother and daughter. Perhaps I will ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to meet Deputy Daly to discuss these and other cases, as well as meeting the adoption alliance to ascertain whether a structured openness can be put in place to enable these things to happen when people want them to happen.

See this speech in context