An adopted American man who never knew his biological parents believes he is the first to use modern technology to prove that he is entitled to an Irish passport - which he has now been granted.
John Portmann, who was unaware of his Irish roots, obtained an Irish passport after proving that his biological father Thomas Fitzgerald was from Dublin and his biological mother Térese Delahanty’s family was from Co Kilkenny.
The 61-year-old from Phoenix , Arizona is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and has penned multiple books . He was born in June 1963 into the care of the Sisters of Mercy nuns in the city.
“I never had the faintest idea I was Irish," John told Irish Times. "People assumed I was Scandinavian. Adopted people keep hitting a wall as far as finding out about their real parents.
"DNA detectives use their skills to find out who your parents are. It is incredible that the woman I employed could find the identity of my father.”
John's mother, who grew up in a Catholic family in Minneapolis, came to Phoenix to have her child with the understanding that she would give it up for adoption due the stigma around unmarried women and illegitimacy.
John's adoptive parents, Walter and Carol Portmann, told him and his two siblings that they were adopted from a young age but it wasn't until 2019 that a DNA test from ancestry.com revealed to John that he was 100 per cent genetically Irish .
To dig a bit deeper, he then employed some DNA detectives to research his background. Heartbreakingly, it unveiled that John's mother died in 2019 at the age of 90, just a few months before he got the ancestry.com report.
She never had any other children. His biological father died 14 years ago. Undeterred, John took out a court case in Arizona – a state where children have a legal right to know and to recognise who their real parents are.
In September 2020, the case judge ruled that Thomas Fitzgerald and Térese Delahanty were his real parents. John presented the evidence to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Passport Office in Dublin .
The office called in its own DNA experts, Ormond Quay Paternity Services, and verified that Thomas Fitzgerald was his biological father. John was therefore entitled to an Irish passport .
“Getting Ireland to accept me was difficult, because I didn’t have any papers at all because I was adopted,” John said. " Ireland is not obliged to honour the rulings of other courts in other countries.
"The DNA evidence proved to be crucial. Apparently in my case and for the first time ever, Ireland decided to accept DNA evidence as proof of Irish blood instead of birth certificates.”
John visited Ireland for the first time in October last year and met some of his long-lost relatives . He also visited Belvedere College where his paternal grandfather had taught.
The DFA confirmed others had sought Irish citizenship through DNA, adding: “The Passport Service may accept DNA evidence as part of the requirements to prove a person’s entitlement to Irish citizenship through an Irish parent."
John added: “I want people to know how grateful I am to Ireland because Ireland has been very generous towards me.”
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