Скачать или смотреть Unmarried mothers' repatriations: 'Keep strong, there's always a paper trail'

An adopted woman who spent decades looking for her Irish birth mother has urged former residents of "mother and baby homes" not to give up in their search for birth information.

Maria Cahill was born to a single mother in London in 1954, but within weeks they were both sent to Ireland because her mother was unmarried.

Ms Cahill spent the first two years of her life in a Catholic-run "mother and baby home" in Castlepollard County Westmeath.

She was later adopted.

Both she and her mother tried to find each other again in later life, but their attempts were frustrated by incorrect birth records and misinformation.

Their case is among almost 3,000 repatriations of unmarried Irish women who became pregnant while living in the UK.

Ms Cahill said it took her almost 40 years to discover the truth about her own identity.