OVER 800 applications have been made to the Adoption Authority of Ireland following the opening yesterday morning of access to birth information for adopted people. 

Since yesterday, people who were adopted, boarded out or subject to an illegal birth registration can now access birth certificates and birth and early life information. 

In the first 27 hours since the system opened, the Adoption Authority of Ireland received 817 applications for information, according to the Department of Children and Equality. 

The Information and Tracing Act, which was signed into law earlier this year, provides a full and clear right of access to information for people who have questions about their origins.

It also enables people to access this information where their parent has died, and for access by the next of kin of a child who died in an institution.

Under previous legislation, adopted people were not entitled to their birth certificate or to information about their families of origin.

Under the new law, even if a biological parent says they don’t want their child to get their birth cert or related information, the adopted person will still get access.

The Act also introduced a range of new measures to support people affected by illegal birth registration, including free counselling.

Information requests can be made to the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) and Tusla through the bespoke website BirthInfo.ie. All information falling within the categories of information defined in the Act must be released, without exception, where it exists.

Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman told an Oireachtas Committee earlier today that 2,000 people have made inquiries through the BirthInfo.ie website since the Act came into effect yesterday. 

He said technical issues experienced by some people when trying to submit applications have now been resolved. 

The new law also establishes a Contact Preference Register to which applications can be made by those wishing to make contact, to request privacy, or to seek or share information with a relative.

More than 16,600 people have signed up to the register to date, with over 400 people (mainly parents) registering a no-contact preference.

Applications for the information and tracing services can be made to the AAI and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. More information can be read here. 

With reporting by Emer Moreau and Órla Ryan