Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We all agree that this is a very difficult issue which needs to be handled with the utmost sensitivity. We are opening another dark chapter of our history. These are events which took place 50 and 70 years ago when Ireland was a very different place. It seems like a foreign country to the one it is today. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge these matters and deal with them as best we can. We know that incorrect or illegal registrations are not new. The Deputy is correct in that regard. We know that it was a historical practice and one which was probably commonplace. Journalists have written about it in recent years and adoption rights campaigners have raised it publicly. We all know the tragic story of the wonderful Philomena Lee and her son, Michael Hess, whom she never got to meet. What is new is that we have clear documentary evidence because of the fact that St. Patrick's Guild transferred its records to Tusla, which has been going through them over the past year or so. Evidence has been hard to find because what was done in the past was concealed. It is often the case that there are no records or that records were falsified.

The citizens affected are now in their 50s, 60s and 70s and their birth parents and the parents who raised them will be in their 70s, 80s and 90s. In many cases, we are talking about very elderly people and some who may have passed away. Some may know their birth stories but many others will not and will be finding out in the next couple of weeks and months. They will be finding out at the age of 49, 50 and 60 that the people they thought for decades were their birth parents were, in fact, not. Parents who brought up children for 50, 60 and 70 years may now have to have that very difficult conversation with the children they brought up that they are not in fact their birth parents or even, indeed, their legal parents. There will be other family members involved. Sisters and brothers who believed they were blood relatives will find out that this was not the case. This is potentially a very traumatic situation for many people and I am very sorry for it. I hope we can deal with this, not just as a Government but as politicians, in a sensitive way because that is what is required.

Some will say that the past should be left in the past and that we will do more harm than good by disclosing this information. Some will say this is a dark chapter about which we should not have to read. We disagree. This information is now available and the only thing to do is disclose it to the people affected. Ultimately, it is their choice and their lives. They have a right to know about their identities and birth stories. I am reminded of the words of the American author Alex Haley who wrote:

In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage - to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning [...] and the most disquieting loneliness.

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