Plans to give adopted people the right to access their birth records for the first time have been dropped.

Minister for Children Katherine Zappone announced on Wednesday evening that “despite everyone involved making significant efforts to reach consensus on the issue of release of birth information, it has not proved possible to reach agreement, at this time”.

Ms Zappone said she was “personally deeply disappointed” but added that the issue must be set aside for now.

Nevertheless she said she would progress other measures including that “offences will be created for anyone found to have destroyed, concealed, altered or falsified a record.”

In recent years the State has legalised the alteration of birth certificates in cases where a child is born using donor gametes, through surrogacy, or where a person identifies as a different sex later in life.