A new report into Ireland's forced and secret adoption system and related historical abuse, recommends a new process of investigation into the Mother and Baby Homes.
The Clann Project has published its final report, which draws on 77 witness statements and makes 8 recommendations to the ongoing Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation.
It recommends that a State apology should be issued to all those affected, as well as the establishment of a specific unit to investigate criminal allegations.
The team further says there should be statutory rights and services - such as a centralised records - for adopted people, natural parents, relatives of the deceased and all individuals who experienced abuse.
The report also suggests that a new investigative process should focus on ensuring access to information, and calls for all State records relating to Magdalene Laundries to be publicly released.
Claire McGettrick, co-director of the Clann Project, said: "The Clann Project witnesses describe a situation of marginalisation, powerlessness and discrimination that persists in 21st Century Ireland, because private, religious and State bodies are withholding their personal and family records.
"In addition, the administrative records held by the State and private bodies are being kept entirely secret."
She added: "This is compounding the abuse suffered in the past. No other form of redress will be meaningful without first abandoning this insistence on secrecy and treating people with dignity."
