Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This morning, Irish society is once again faced with a scandalous mistreatment of citizens, particularly women and children, by the State as we stare face-on into the scandal, not of incorrect registrations but of fraudulent, deliberate mis-registration and illegal adoptions. Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Zappone, confirmed what so many previous Governments had known for decades. She finally revealed that 126 babies were illegally adopted from St. Patrick's Guild between 1949 and 1969. These babies had their births falsely registered to their adopted parents. They are, as we speak, in the dark as to where they came from. At the weekend, we thought we had finally closed the door on the historic mistreatment of women at the hands of a conservative state and yet today that door is wide open again.

Swift action must now be taken to right what is another grave injustice. I acknowledge that the Minister has taken the initiative. However, it must be said that successive Governments have known of these scandals and yet they failed to name them and act, despite ample documentary evidence. Campaigners have been raising these issues with successive Governments since at least 2002. In fact, they raised the specific matter of St. Patrick's Guild in 2003 with the then Fianna Fáil children's Minister but no action was taken. Over the years, the Adoption Rights Alliance has raised the specific issue of illegal adoption with successive Ministers, with the joint Oireachtas committee and with the Adoption Authority of Ireland. In fact, the Adoption Rights Alliance, in dogged pursuit of answers and action, issued a paper which gave prominence to illegal adoption to each Minister at the Department of Children and Youth Affairs since 2011 and yet no significant action ever followed. It is only now, in 2018, that we are finally seeing some movement.

There are citizens who were illegally adopted but have absolutely no idea that they are adoptees. Many have lived for decades unaware of their identities and with no access to their records. This has practical consequences in terms of health care and hereditary conditions. They live under a closed secret system that stigmatises their very existence. Many will want to know who their birth parents are and now it might be too late. That is unforgivable.

I understand that the Taoiseach has proposed an investigation and I want to ask him specific questions regarding what is proposed with the aim, the scope, the resourcing and the terms of reference. Does the Taoiseach accept that these were illegal adoptions? Will the Government include all agencies, individuals and homes involved in adoption in the State? Will the Government include the estimated 2,000 babies who were illegally sent to the United States of America? Will the Government ensure that no affected person is left behind?

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