Letter from William P. Fay to John J. Hearne (Washington DC)
(Copy)

In reply to your minute (20/4) of the 8th April¹ concerning an enquiry which you have received from the Reverend Andrew P. Maloney, Executive Director, Catholic Charities, 240 West Broad Street, Hazleton, Pa., about Irish adoption law, the Department has consulted the Department of Justice in this matter and suggests that a reply should be given to the enquirer on the following lines.

When the Irish Free State was set up in 1922, the law in force did not include any legal provision for adoption. No pressing need for legislation on this subject has been felt in Ireland until relatively recently. In recent years there has been demand for enactment of legislation enabling the adoption of children. This has arisen, particularly as a result of the activities of certain aliens who wish to adopt Irish children and hold out the inducement of large sums of money to induce Irish parents to allow their children to be taken out of the country. To deal with this situation the Government have recently decided to introduce a Bill to legalise adoption in the case of illegitimate and orphan children. It is expected that this Bill will pass into law, with little or no opposition, in the near future.² A copy of the text of the Bill will be sent to you as soon as it is available. In the meanwhile, it may be of interest to your enquirer to know that the Irish Catholic Hierarchy have made a public pronouncement on the subject of adoption, and I am sending you herewith a copy of the text of this pronouncement for your own information and the information of your enquirer.³