Thousands of Irish adoption records not released by deadline
Adoptees from the Republic of Ireland previously had to apply to authorities to see their original birth certificates
At a glance
Thousands of adopted people from the Republic of Ireland are yet to receive their birth records.
The deadline to receive the records passed on Wednesday.
Only 65 of 6,000 applications have been concluded.
The Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022 became law in June and gave adoptees the automatic right to request their birth records.
- Published
Thousands of adopted people who requested their birth records under a new law in the Republic of Ireland did not receive them by the deadline on Wednesday.
The Adoption Authority of Ireland and the child and family agency Tusla said that out of more than 6,000 requests, just 65 had been concluded.
The requests were made under the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022, which gives adopted people an automatic right to see their original birth certificates.
The agencies said part of the reason for the delay was that the law gave officials just one month to find records.
A spokesperson for the Adoption Authority of Ireland said they had received an "unprecedented" number of applications since the law came into effect.
They added that the small number of records provided was due to the "complexity associated with gathering, collating, and checking the information".
“The Adoption Authority remains committed to providing birth information to applicants as professionally and efficiently as possible,” the spokesperson added.
“Any applicant who hasn’t received their information within 30 days, has received an email detailing the reasons for the delay and informing them that the deadline for a response has been extended to 90 days as per the legislation.”
Minister for Children Roderic O'Gorman, who published the bill, described its passage through government as a "historic moment"
Claire McGettrick, co-founder of the Adoption Rights Alliance, told RTÉ that the deadline was "unrealistic" because of how information is defined and categorised under the legislation.
She said the minister "failed to consult us" along the way, the system was designed without them, and that the implementation group created did not see an affected person appointed to the group.
"This is a situation of the minister’s making, he has promised a landmark system, promised a brand spanking new system and he has created and designed it without us and has created chaos instead," Ms McGettrick said.
Previously, adoptees had to apply to the authorities to find out their identity at birth.
Parents were able to object and block the release of information.
Tulsa said anyone waiting for records would receive them by the end of January.