Adopted people have raised serious concerns about the Adoption Bill – saying it should be re-drafted altogether.

ChildrenÂ’s Minister Katherine Zappone says itÂ’s revolutionary, because it presumes that people should have access to their birth certificates.

But opponents to the bill say they wonÂ’t have full access to their own records.

Juliette Gash reports;

Philomena Lee's life story was made into a film Philomena. 

At age 18, Philomena was sent to Sean Ross Abbey where she gave birth to a son Anthony who was adopted at age 3 by a family in the US. His whereabouts and new identity were not known to Philomena. Philomena moved to England when she left Sean Ross Abbey. In 2003 she revealed to her family that she had given birth to a son when she was 19, and she did not know his whereabouts. For decades, she had secretly been trying to find out what had happened to her son, without success. With her daughter Jane's help and the assistance of a journalist, Philomena discovered that her son had been put up for adoption by the nuns at the Abbey. He was taken by an American couple, and named Michael. Philomena learned that Michael had died in 1995 aged 43, and that he had tried without success to find his mother. Before his death he arranged to be buried at Sean Ross Abbey, in the hope that his mother would find his grave.

Philomena Lee is now an advocate and spokesperson for adoption rights. She has created The Philomena Project in order to raise awareness about adoption laws and find ways to improve them. In February 2014, she met Pope Francis to discuss the Catholic Church's adoption policies.