Burton promises adoption rights

Tánaiste Joan Burton has promised that adopted children will be given new rights to learn the identities of their birth mothers.

She said that legislation due in the coming months could be called “Philomena's law” to honour Irishwoman Philomena Lee, whose quest to find her adopted son was made into an award-winning film.

Burton said the current practice where adopted children could only discover their birth mother's name with her consent was no ...