Editorials

The Irish Times view on adoptions in 20th century Ireland: A thorough reckoning

We don’t know what we do not know about the myriad other ways the State and churches dealt with the “problem” of children born to unmarried parents

Photograph: iStock

Sat Mar 20 2021 - 00:05

Much attention was given to the recent decision by an independent review into illegal birth registrations not to recommend a full inquiry. Less widely discussed were other harmful practices it highlighted; issues which went beyond its remit, but which were “matters which the State will wish to address”. These include the trafficking of Irish children; forced or illegal adoptions; the absence of informed consent and potential profiteering from the alleged sale of infants.

We have known about the practice of illegal birth registrations since at least the 1950s, even if it is only now we have insight into the potential scale of it. The review found that up to 20,000 birth registrations may have markers for “suspicious practice”. The special rapporteur on child protection, UCC law professor Conor O’Mahony, has been asked to explore the implications of this and make recommendations.

At some point the pendulum must swing towards the rights of adopted people, and the need of wider society to come to terms with its past

Meanwhile we don’t know what we do not know about the myriad other ways the State and churches dealt with the “problem” of children born to unmarried parents – about the scale of pre-1952 adoptions; foreign adoptions; adoptions where the mother was a minor, or the parents were married. A full and thorough reckoning is essential, not just because many survivors are still alive, and deserve the right to access their records. Knowing who you are is a basic human right. That reckoning is also the key to understanding who we were as a wider society, and who we still are.

There are fears within Government that approaching individuals with inconclusive information might cause them trauma. There are valid concerns too about the impact on adoptive families, and their right to privacy. But at some point, the pendulum must swing towards the rights of adopted people, and the need of wider society to come to terms with its past.

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Our tendency is often to focus on what happened in institutions, as though the wrongs that took place behind the doors of Magdalene Laundries, industrial schools, county homes, mother and baby homes or private nursing homes happened apart from society. But it is more honest to see them in the context of a rigid social hierarchy that placed women and children at the bottom, and the most vulnerable amongst them lowest of all. Traces of the old social order still persist. There is little outrage about 90,000 children living in consistent poverty. There are no vigils for the 2,000 women and 500 children who seek help from a domestic violence service each month. It is time we did away with the paternalistic attitude that the State always knows best. That attitude is the legacy of a culture which treated unmarried mothers as a source of shame, and their children as an embarrassment or, worse, a commodity.

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