US man given Irish citizenship says a DNA test ‘changed his life’

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 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.