Joy for Irish mother who is reunited with biological daughter after 60 years

An Irish widow has been reunited with her daughter she gave up for adoption for the first time in over 60 years.

Margaret Sweeney, 83, puts it down to the fact she would read her daughter’s horoscope every week.

She finally met her daughter Imelda’s as they appeared on an episode of ITV series Long Lost Families.

Margaret revealed that she started reading Imelda’s horoscope after she gave her up at six weeks old.

She had been a 19-year-old working in a café in London when she fell pregnant. She worried that her strict Catholic family back home in Northern Ireland would react badly if they found out.

She turned to nuns for help and ended up giving her baby away for adoption, despite being desperate to keep her.
She said: “Way back from the 70s, we started getting the Sunday Mail every week.

“I’d check Imelda’s horoscopes every week, wondering what her life was like.

“A lot of people don’t believe in them but when good things were said about Imelda, it brought me comfort.”

Imelda was renamed Cathy by her adopted parents and when she was six she emigrated to the other side of the world to live in Brisbane, Australia.

Margaret was taken to Australia by ITV to meet her daughter, who is now 62.

She said: “It was absolutely magical meeting my daughter all over again. It was emotional, tearful, magical. We’re all over the moon.

“We Facetime everyday and when we were chatting this week, she said she is planning on coming to Scotland next year.

“Then we’ll go to Ireland to meet family before heading to London to meet the rest of the family. We all can’t wait.”

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