The 1998 Adoption Act outlawed private adoption, except within families, and this was one of the reasons why the proprietors of the Aadam's women's centre were found to have illegal custody of Baby A.

Until the 1998 Act came into operation private adoptions were legal, though only under certain conditions. It was illegal for anyone to act as an intermediary in a private adoption, and it was illegal for money to change hands.

As in publicly arranged adoptions, an adoption order would have to be made by the Adoption Board, which had to be satisfied that the couple were suitable adoptive parents and that the natural mother was happy with her decision. But these could be difficult to establish when private adoptions were arranged between the mother and the adoptive parents.

People involved in the area were concerned that, even with the safeguards, irregular adoptions were taking place. The Adoption Board in particular sought changes in the law to make private adoptions illegal except within families.

In its 1996 annual report it said that outlawing private adoptions would "ensure that all birth mothers willing to place their child for adoption will have the opportunity of availing of professional counselling and that all couples wishing to adopt will have been approved as prospective adoptive parents.

"We called for change to ensure that any mother had the opportunity to explore all her options, and that the couple had been assessed by a professional adoption agency and were suitable," said Mr David Wolfe, registrar of the Adoption Board.

"There have been cases where the mother would not have known the parents very well. We would try and link the mother with social workers and the health board to make sure she knew what she was doing and was happy with her decision."

Mr Kieran McGrath, editor of The Irish Social Worker and familiar with child welfare issues, said there were fears in the field that wrong was being done in some private adoptions. He said it was not always clear how the birth mother and the adoptive parents made contact with each other. It was illegal for third parties to act as intermediaries.

"They (social workers) were not satisfied they were getting full information all the time. Either there was pressure on the girl or the couples were not being assessed properly. Where you had doubts about it you had no control."

HE said there were suspicions that certain doctors and priests were manipulating young women into private adoptions with families of their choosing. But if full information was not made available about how the mother had encountered the adoptive parents, this could not be proved.

According to the Baby A judgment, a representative of the Aadam's agency in the regional town where the mother lived said "she knew of five couples who were trying to adopt children".

In his affidavit, quoted in the judgment, the proprietor of the agency told the mother: "I had been advised that she had a constitutional right to have the baby adopted publicly or privately, subject to the Adoption Board . . . I said that my wife and I would be glad to adopt the baby but, until she made up her mind, we would be happy to look after it."

This accords with the testimony of a young woman who contacted The Irish Times on Thursday, who was told the agency "would get someone to take the baby until she was ready to take it back". Taking possession of a baby with a view to adoption is also illegal.

Mr Wolfe said there was no way this couple could have adopted Baby A. "We could not have accepted an adoption application because private placements are illegal."

Referring to private adoptions which may have taken place through this agency before the 1998 Act, he said the board had the power to have an adoption order set aside, though only if that was in the interests of the child.

Such an application could be made to the courts if there was doubt about the validity of the mother's consent. "Everything hinges on her fully informed consent," he said.