US-born professor who was adopted gains Irish citizenship through shocking DNA test

It must be the luck of the Irish!

A 61-year-old professor born in Phoenix, Arizona, believes he is the first person to gain Irish citizenship solely based on the results of a DNA test, the Irish Times reported.

John Portmann, an author and professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia, took an Ancestry.com test in 2019 at the behest of his adopted sister. Portmann was cared for by nuns in Phoenix before being adopted and grew up not knowing anything about his background.

When he received his DNA results, he was shocked to find out he was full-blooded Irish. Portmann shared his story for the first time earlier this month in a Facebook page for the Ireland-based group Adoption Rights Alliance.

“I thought it must be a mistake,” he told the BBC. “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.”

Suddenly, he couldn’t stop thinking about Ireland and about his biological mother and father so he hired a DNA detective to research his past.

“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,” Portmann said. “I thought about them night and day.”

He eventually learned that his biological father was from Dublin and his biological mother’s family was from County Kilkenny in southeastern Ireland.

Portmann presented the evidence to authorities in Dublin who confirmed his father’s identity and issued him an Irish passport.

“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,” he told the Irish Times.

He visited Ireland for the first time in October, met long-lost relatives and visited Belvedere College, where his paternal grandfather once taught.

Since then, Portmann has been counting his Irish blessings. He said he is grateful to his motherland “because Ireland has been very generous towards me.”

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs told the Times it does not comment on individual cases but said other have tried to obtain Irish citizenship citizenship through DNA. It was not made clear if the attempts were successful.

According to Irish citizenship law, those born outside the country are automatically a citizen by birth if either one of the parents were born in Ireland and was a citizen.