Finally, Cabinet set to approve adoption report
THE report into illegal adoptions, which has been complete for almost two years, may be published next week if approved by Cabinet, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
After many requests for details from the Department of Children on publishing this report since 2019, a department spokesman confirmed to the MoS on Friday that Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman intends to request permission from Cabinet on Tuesday to publish the report and, if granted, will publish it this coming week.
The report was initially requested by then-minister Katherine Zappone in May 2018 when it emerged that 126 adoptions carried out by the St Patrick’s Adoption Guild between 1946 and 1969 were found to have been illegally registered. This number rose to 151 and is likely to rise much higher.
The MoS was told in 2019 that Ms Zappone received the final report on illegal adoptions that May. The report was carried out by independent reviewer Marion Reynolds and its purpose was to determine if similar cases of illegal birth registrations, as found in St Patrick’s Guild, can be identified from the records of other former adoption agencies and other relevant bodies.
The reason for the delay, according to the department, was so the report didn’t ‘encroach’ on the work of the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation.
This reason has been disputed by legal experts and the adoption community, given the investigation of illegal adoptions was actively left out of the Commission’s terms of reference, despite requests from those affected. The report simply states: The Commission has not seen evidence of illegal registration of births which occurred in the mother and baby homes and county homes under investigation.’
This week an RTÉ Investigates programme revealed harrowing details of several people who have discovered that they were secretly and illegally adopted.
The MoS previously revealed how Professor Éamon de Valera Jr, the son of former President Éamon de Valera, repeatedly facilitated the illegal adoption of babies long after the introduction of the 1952 Adoption Act, which made the practice a criminal offence. Wednesday night’s programme revealed four such cases in which he had also been involved.The documentary also highlighted the Commission’ silence on the matter.
Meanwhile, The MoS is aware of 25 people seeking legal action in relation to illegal adoptions. Proceedings have been issued in 14 of these cases to date.