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

The short answer to the Deputy's final question is "Yes". That will potentially be in the mix and I would not rule it out at this stage. At the same time, the first task that we are working on is to see if we have evidence of more illegal registrations. We need that evidence to go down the route the Deputy spoke about.

To go back to one of the Deputy's earlier questions, we are looking at a sample in the first instance because of the sheer volume of the records involved. This is an extremely complex task. Those who are advocating this work are aware of that. I read the Irish Examiner as well and I am grateful for the work of Mr. Conall Ó Fátharta, as well as others who write for other newspapers, in lifting up these issues for us. What we are doing is appropriately responding in a targeted, strategic and intelligent manner. We are moving in a new direction and trying to determine whether we have other cases. There are some 150,000 people who have been adopted and 100,000 records are in the public domain. We are taking an intelligent and targeted approach to try to find any other cases where there is evidence of illegal registrations. We want early answers. We believe the quickest way to get them is to do the targeted exercise and on that basis to make the decision to move forward and do a wider piece of research for the persons affected, if necessary.

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