Tusla has said it is working towards addressing waiting times for people who want to trace their relatives under the Birth Information and Tracing Act.
The child and family agency said it has received 5,752 applications for its tracing service, of which 1,583 have been allocated to a social worker.
It said it continues to receive an average of 40 new applications per week for tracing and is now working to address the waiting times for applications.
Separately, Tusla said it received 7,234 applications for birth information from 3 October 2022 to 22 January this year, under the Act which was signed into law in July 2022.
The Act enshrined into law the importance of a person knowing their origins.
The legislation provides for the full release of identity information to all relevant persons aged 16 years or over, as well as to next-of-kin and children of relevant persons in certain circumstances.
Of the 7,234 applications for birth information, 833 were received after 1 September 2023, and are currently being processed under Tusla's Birth, Information and Tracing service within statutory timeframes.
However, there is currently a backlog of 607 applications which were received between May and August last year.
"It is expected that this backlog will be completed by May 2024," Tusla said in a statement.
"Tusla is conscious of the importance of this service and the impact any delays can have on people who require birth, information, and tracing services," the agency added.
Barnardos CEO Suzanne Connolly called on the Government to give all possible resources to Tusla in order to help it deal with the tracing backlog.
"It's just not acceptable," she said, "particularly for those elderly parents who may have summoned up the courage after several decades, to then discover they are on long waiting lists".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme, Ms Connolly said: "We know from our work and Barnardos because we run groups for people who've been adopted, and indeed we also run group for mothers whose babies were placed for adoption.
"And we know the positive effect it can have on both lives when the reunification happens.
"And we also know the absolute heartache of somebody who's waiting for that call to say they can proceed now with the tracing."
