A voluntary group opened an Irish Adoption Contact Register on the Internet yesterday.
The free register, sponsored by Tesco Ireland, will allow birth parents or adopted people who want to contact each other to have that fact recorded on a confidential database, along with key information about themselves.
It is the sort of register which ministers for health and their ministers of State have been promising for years.
However, the register was never provided, although it is the express wish of adoption societies, Barnardos and the Adoption Board that there should be one.
Instead it was left to the Adopted People's Association to provide its own voluntary Internet register.
Anybody with access to a modem could put a "register" on the Internet, but this is in a different class, as the guests at yesterday's event showed.
The launch of the register was performed by Sen Mary Henry in the Arthouse in Temple Bar, Dublin.
Sen Henry pointed out that it would lead, not only to joyful reunions, but also to disappointment.
Also present were the president of the Irish Association of Social Workers, Ms Imelda Keogh, and the EHB childcare manager, Mr Paul Harrison.
While their presence does not amount to an official endorsement of the new register, it at least acknowledges the standing of the APA.
The Department of Computer Science at Trinity College Dublin developed the Website at which people can enter their details, which will only be visible to designated personnel in the APA.
It is free, thanks to sponsorship from Tesco Ireland.
Ms Helen Gilmartin, of the Adoptive Parents' Association of Ireland, said the APA initiative did not mean the Government could drop plans for an official register.
The Government had access to information and counselling resources which made it imperative that it establish a register.
If the voluntary register gave the relevant ministers "a kick up the backside" it would be doing a good day's work, she said.
The APA says information provided to the register will be held "in the strictest confidence".
Adoptees and birth parents can ask the APA to search the database for a possible match with a child or parent.
If there is such a match, the APA will then try to establish whether the two parties are related and whether both are interested in contact. If both want contact, they will be put in touch.
People can place their details on the register either on the Internet at www.adoptionireland.com or by writing to The Adopted People's Association Contact Register, 27 Templeview Green, Clare Hall, Dublin 13, for an application form, enclosing a stamped addressed envelope.