Sir, – I’ve just heard Pope Francis’s comments during his papal Mass that those who told mothers it was a mortal sin to search for their children and vice versa were wrong. He said it is the fourth commandment. I looked it up: honour thy father and thy mother. I’m adopted. Might my mother have searched for me if this society, in fear of the Roman Catholic church, had not shamed her into emigration like so many?
I made a freedom of information request to Tusla. I was shocked to receive 58 pages mostly censored with black ink, many were blank with a large black X covering the whole page and the word “redacted” in the centre.
Your right to identity is a human right; Article 8 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) says: “1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognised by law without unlawful interference. 2. Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity.”
During a Dáil debate on illegal registrations by St Patrick’s Guild adoption society, which dealt with my adoption, Joan Burton TD said “adopted people are still the only people who do not have fundamental human rights in this country . . . there are many people buried in the Irish systems of administration and politics who think the sky will fall in if these rights are realised, but we have provided referendums on gay marriage, reproductive rights and divorce. This is the only issue still outstanding.”
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Will the State listen to Pope Francis? – Yours, etc,
JOAN REIDY,
Malahide, Co Dublin.