The Adoption Board is to establish a Contact Preference Register which will facilitate an estimated 47,000 Irish people who have been adopted and their natural parents and relatives to make contact should they desire.
It is one of the first measures being introduced under the new adoption legislation which is currently being drafted.
Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan
Speaking at the launch of the Register, Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan said that €1 million was being provided to the Adoption Board to provide such tracing and reunion services this year.
"Registers in the past have been operated on a voluntary basis - this will be the first State register which will operate on a statutory basis," said Mr Lenihan.
Adopted people and their natural parents are being encouraged to register for the service and all 1.3 million homes in the State will receive an information pack and registration form in April.
There will be range of contact options available to those who register. They can indicate they are willing to meet, or willing to have contact by telephone, email or letter. Alternatively they can choose to have no contact, no contact but willing to provide background information, or no contact but willing to share medical information.
If both parties register with the service, contact will initially be made at the lower level of contact specified, but according to Adoption Board CEO Mr John Collins the Board will then work with both sides to help develop the relationship.
Mr Collins said that the Adoption Board has seen a 50 per cent increase in the number of inquires it received between 1998 and 2004 from adopted people or their natural parents. Last year it handled 2,000 queries, the majority of which came from adopted people.
Parties to an adoption will not be obliged to register for the service which will be fully confidential, with all details stored in a secure database which only selected Adoption Board staff will have access to.
The experience in Scotland, where a similar register operates, is that one in 15 applicants lead to a match, and the levels of success are closely aligned to the amount of publicity that the Register receives.
People who are concerned about the establishment of the Register and wish to discuss how it might impact them can contact the Adoption Board confidentially on 1800 309 300.
AdoptionIreland, which has operated its own contact register for six years, welcomed the establishment of a State-run Register but said more needs to be done for adopted people.
"While it's great to finally see a properly funded and advertised Register being launched, it won't help those who were never told they were adopted," said AdoptionIreland chairperson Anton Sweeney.
"We still need the promised Information and Tracing Service to help their natural families to make contact. But more importantly, while the issue of post-adoption services is now being addressed, we cannot ignore the twin issue of post-adoption rights," she said.