The Supreme Court said that both people involved in the adoption of this sort had constitutional rights at stake: the right of the adopted person to know the identity of their birth parent, and the right of the birth mother to privacy.
However, this right to privacy was not absolute, and if the Circuit Court which was hearing the case felt that the rights of the adopted people were stronger, the information could be disclosed. The Court sent the case back to the lower court to consider this question.
It appears that the former Attorney General advised that this case means the Oireachtas cannot legislate to allow unrestricted access to birth records in all cases, as this would not pay sufficient regard to the privacy rights identified by the Supreme Court. If this is correct, the Constitution would have to be amended to allow such access.
BBC News
Published
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image captionThe site of a former home in Tuam was excavated because hundreds of child burial records were missing
The findings of a major investigation into how women and children were treated in Irish mother and baby homes are due to be published.
The investigation began in 2015 after claims emerged that hundreds of babies were buried in a mass, unmarked grave near a home in Tuam, County Galway.
The Tuam babies controversy, as it became known, sparked international shock and outrage.
It prompted the Irish government to set up a wide-ranging investigation into the operation of mother and baby homes, in a bid to shed light on the lives and deaths of thousands of former residents.