Ireland's 'forced' adoptions
Paul Redmond is chair of the Coalition of Mother and Baby Homes Survivors, Ireland. He has documented the treatment of unmarried mothers in Ireland who went to Catholic Church-run mother and baby homes.
He told Hardtalk's Sarah Montague that many felt they had to give up their babies for adoption: "I have listened to the testimonies and the sad stories over and over again over the years, and there is no doubt in my mind that people were forced into this."
"This peaked in 1967 in Ireland when over 97% of all illegitimate children where adopted," he added.
He said mothers had to go along with it "because they felt they had no choice".
The Irish government is currently carrying out a public inquiry into the homes which were mainly church-run institutions.
