Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked many questions. I will start with her last one, with the preface that I am deeply concerned about the issue of illegal registrations. I am in regular communication and contact with those who are in the position of having been adopted and I listen to the concerns that they raise. I am in contact with advocates of those who are in that position and subsequent to authorising this current audit and targeted sampling of the records, I had the opportunity to meet some of them face to face. I understand what the Deputy is speaking about, and I am in regular communication with the people affected. I am deeply concerned.

As to the Deputy's last question on why action is being taken now when we knew about this for years, it is true that the Adoption Authority of Ireland, AAI, has previously spoken publicly about cases on its files in which it suspects an illegal registration. So far, however, it has not had sufficient information on file to confirm this. As I said in my press statement of 29 May, the authority is examining these unconfirmed cases to see if any further facts can be established. It is very difficult to prove these cases in the absence of good records. However, if the AAI, following this validation exercise, reaches the high level of certainty that I have spoken of, these cases will be added to the 126 that I have already confirmed and announced. It is true that those cases were identified earlier and were communicated by my Department. However, it is also true that the AAI is trying to determine whether the same level of certainty applies in these cases as to the 126 cases. The commitment is there and we are continuing to examine this.

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