Ms Theresa Hiney Tingal discovered she was illegally adopted, and her birth certificate was falsified at the age of 48. It was through freedom of information requests that Ms. Hiney Tingal finally got a copy of her HSE adoption file.

As a result of the discovery, she has sought that the current investigation into illegal adoptions in Ireland is extended to cover all private homes and not just be limited to those adopted from St Patrick’s Guild. 

St Patricks Guild has been the subject of a recent RTE Investigates documentary into illegal adoptions in Ireland. Prior to the airing of the documentary Taoiseach Micheál Martin stated at a Finna Fail parliamentary meeting “The issue of illegal adoption is shocking. We will ensure those affected are helped and supported. It’s critical they have access to their identity. The information tracing legislation is a priority”.

Ms. Hiney Tingal has contended that for those that were illegally adopted information tracing is very difficult as in many cases the information doesn’t exist. Further, the position of the Taoiseach is at odds with the report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes which held there was “very little evidence” of forced adoption in Ireland between 1922 and 1998.

Ms Hiney Tingal intends to write to both the Taoiseach and Minster for Children Roderic O’ Gorman about the issue of illegal adoptions. She is also working on a book titled Against All Odds about her life story and runs the website: Link