USA man made Irish citizen after DNA test surprise

bbc.com International News Jul - 24 - 2024 , 15:20

A man from Arizona believes he is one of the first people to be awarded an Irish passport based solely on a DNA test.

Prof John Portmann was born in Phoenix in Arizona in the summer of 1963.

But about 60 years later he found out, via a DNA test, that his ancestry is 100% Irish.

And Prof Portmann has since been awarded Irish citizenship.

'It must be a mistake'

As a baby, he was taken into the care of the Sisters of Mercy nuns in Phoenix.

He was then adopted and for most of his life, did not want to know more about his birth parents because he was worried about what he might find.

But just a few years ago, his adoptive sister convinced him to try a DNA test.

**Prof Portmann pictured with his cousin Anne, who he met after having his DNA tested**

Prof Portmann told BBC NI that he waited "about two months" for the DNA test results.

He then received the results via email when he was out for dinner one night.

Prof Portmann described how some of the email's content was confusing but a line he "could understand said you are 100% Irish".

"I thought it must be a mistake. I thought maybe my little vial got confused with someone else's because I didn't feel Irish. I didn't think I was Irish and 100% as well," he said.

Prof Portmann found a DNA expert from Canada who he described as a "DNA detective" or "a DNA angel".

She reassured him that it wasn't a mistake.

And from then, Prof Portmann said he couldn't stop thinking about Ireland, what his relationship to it might be and about his biological mother and father.

He said: "Although since childhood I had managed to push the thoughts out of my head, all of a sudden it was impossible to keep them out. I thought about them night and day."

"That's what really started the whole search," he added.

DNA 'revealed my past to me'

"It was the DNA that revealed my past to me...DNA changed my life," Prof Portmann said.

And while he is not the first person to find out more about where he came from, he believes he is the first person to be granted Irish citizenship from just a DNA test.

And he is pleased to have been given an Irish passport.

He told BBC NI: "The Irish passport is quite special. It's the only one that gives you privileges not only in the EU but also in the UK."

Prof Portmann has met a cousin through the same DNA website.

Their biological fathers were brothers.

He also found out more of his biological family's history.

'She carried great shame with her'

Prof Portmann described how his father died in 2005, probably with "no idea that I would ever be able to find out who he was", and his mother died in 2019.

"I do wonder what she thought, what her life was like", he said.

He said that his mother's family did not know she had a child.

"I guess that she carried great shame with her throughout her life and that's sad," Prof Portmann said.

'I tried very hard not to think about her'

But Prof Portmann was able to contact his mother's widower who is still alive.

His mother's widower knew about him and he had told his five daughters, expecting them to be shocked.

But one of them also said she knew about their mother's other child.

He described how when his mother "knew that she was dying and the end was near, she gave this young woman a picture of me."

His mother asked her to put the picture of him into her hands so that she would be buried with a picture of him.

Prof Portmann described how "it's a nice feeling" to know that his mother never forgot him.

"It could be that... maybe she might have had me and just sort of moved on with her life, and tried not to think about me as I tried very hard not to think about her," he said.

"But it is wonderful to know that she did think about me."