This morning, Irish society is once again faced with a scandalous mistreatment of citizens, particularly women and children, by the State as we stare face-on into the scandal, not of incorrect registrations but of fraudulent, deliberate mis-registration and illegal adoptions. Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Zappone, confirmed what so many previous Governments had known for decades. She finally revealed that 126 babies were illegally adopted from St. Patrick's Guild between 1949 and 1969. These babies had their births falsely registered to their adopted parents. They are, as we speak, in the dark as to where they came from. At the weekend, we thought we had finally closed the door on the historic mistreatment of women at the hands of a conservative state and yet today that door is wide open again.

Swift action must now be taken to right what is another grave injustice. I acknowledge that the Minister has taken the initiative. However, it must be said that successive Governments have known of these scandals and yet they failed to name them and act, despite ample documentary evidence. Campaigners have been raising these issues with successive Governments since at least 2002. In fact, they raised the specific matter of St. Patrick's Guild in 2003 with the then Fianna Fáil children's Minister but no action was taken. Over the years, the Adoption Rights Alliance has raised the specific issue of illegal adoption with successive Ministers, with the joint Oireachtas committee and with the Adoption Authority of Ireland. In fact, the Adoption Rights Alliance, in dogged pursuit of answers and action, issued a paper which gave prominence to illegal adoption to each Minister at the Department of Children and Youth Affairs since 2011 and yet no significant action ever followed. It is only now, in 2018, that we are finally seeing some movement.

There are citizens who were illegally adopted but have absolutely no idea that they are adoptees. Many have lived for decades unaware of their identities and with no access to their records. This has practical consequences in terms of health care and hereditary conditions. They live under a closed secret system that stigmatises their very existence. Many will want to know who their birth parents are and now it might be too late. That is unforgivable.

I understand that the Taoiseach has proposed an investigation and I want to ask him specific questions regarding what is proposed with the aim, the scope, the resourcing and the terms of reference. Does the Taoiseach accept that these were illegal adoptions? Will the Government include all agencies, individuals and homes involved in adoption in the State? Will the Government include the estimated 2,000 babies who were illegally sent to the United States of America? Will the Government ensure that no affected person is left behind?

We use the terms "incorrect or illegal registrations" rather than "illegal adoptions" because technically these were not adoptions at all, but perhaps that is splitting hairs and not the most relevant point at this stage.

Deputy McDonald is correct that this is not something new. We have known that this practice existed in the past. We suspect that it was quite commonplace. Journalists, such as Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner, have written about it for years. Civil society advocates, such as the Adoption Rights Alliance, have raised this issue with all parties in the House and at all-party committees for years, as the Deputy correctly said. Many of us will have been affected by the film, "Philomena", telling the story of Philomena Lee and, of course, her son, Michael Hess, whose grave she visited but who she never got to meet.

What is different now is that as a result of the transfer of records from St. Patrick's Guild to Tusla, we have clear documentary evidence because of this marker, "Adopted at birth". There is clear evidence in those records of over 100 people who were adopted in this way. That evidence exists and it is important that we deal with it.

Some people have suggested that after exiting a dark tunnel last Saturday, we have entered a new one with this latest story about incorrect registrations. I do not believe that is correct. I believe we are different country now. The past is a foreign country but we must acknowledge it and deal with those issues from the past. Even though it may be 50, 60 or 70 years ago, we still have responsibility to our fellow citizens to read that dark chapter.

What was done was wrong. What was done robbed children, our fellow citizens, of their identity. It was an historic wrong that we must face up to. On behalf of the Government, I am very sorry for it. We will never be reconciled with our past until we are truthful about it. Throughout her career, the Minister, Deputy Zappone, has been steadfast in her determination to force this country to acknowledge the truth about its history and I believe she has done us some real service here.

Our priority now, of course, is to inform those people affected. Social workers experienced in this area will be contacting the birth mothers where they are alive, the parents who brought our fellow citizens up who were involved in these illegal registrations and party to them will be contacted as well and given the opportunity to talk to the children they brought up, and the individuals who were illegally registered will, of course, be contacted as well. This will be done in a sensitive and private way. Nobody will get a knock on the door and suddenly have this information disclosed to their family. It will be done applying all of the best social work practice available.

What will now happen, on the Minister's initiative, is a targeted sampling analysis of the records from the other adoption societies to see whether there is a similar marker or evidence of these illegal registrations. If there is, it will be a requirement to go through over 100,000 records. This is potentially a mammoth task, but it will now be done.

What people want is not retribution. What they want is information about their identities. They have a right to know who they are. They have a right to know their birth story. They have a right to that information and we must give it to them.

The Taoiseach is quite correct that this is not about retribution but what those affected tell me is that they want, above all, honest and that is why language matters here. It matters that we do not try to minimise what happened. It matters that we do not try to pretend that it was an accident, that it was a clerical error.

It was deliberate, fraudulent and illegal and robbed the children, their mothers and natural families of rights so innate to any person that it hurts almost to think of what they lost. They were illegal adoptions. It is important to use that term because the campaigners tell us that is how they see it. Does the Taoiseach accept that what the Minister, Deputy Katharine Zappone, has revealed thus far is just the tip of the iceberg? Yesterday's revelations account for one agency. We estimate that there were 182 such agencies. While initially a sampling exercise might be necessary, a sampling exercise, in and of itself, will not cut it. Only a complete survey of all adoption files will get to the bottom of this scandal. Will the Taoiseach commit himself and his Government to it?

The Deputy is right. Language is very important. It is very important that we do not minimise this in any way in the language we use. It is also important that we be sensitive. In the coming weeks and months people are going to find out information about themselves and the people who they believe are their birth parents and it will be very difficult for everyone. Even the parents who brought up the children, who were involved in and party to the illegal registrations, will find it very difficult because they probably believed at the time that they were doing something right in bringing a child into their home, but we know now that it was not right. We need to share the information and the truth with those fellow citizens of ours who were illegally registered in this way, or illegally adopted, if the Deputy prefers to use that term. I have no difficulty in using it. What will happen now is that there will be an initial scoping and sampling exercise to look at the records of the other adoption societies. If it indicates, as I said in my previous response, that there is evidence of illegal registrations, we will engage in a full analysis of those records. If that is the case, it is potentially a mammoth task and the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, we need to be sensitive in our language and not assume all of these things. Let us act quickly, but let us always act on the basis of facts.