Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I was moved by the testimony of the speaker last week on this matter. Some of us would not be too familiar with the ins and outs of the case itself. The controversy over the adoption of Russian children in the US came on to people's radar after that.

This motion is a genuine attempt to try to call attention to the case. The sentiment behind it is good but I do not know that it will achieve what we are trying to do. It is positive that if we are to put a motion forward it would not be confined to one case but this violation is probably happening as we speak. I suggest that we defer the motion. I would be interested in hearing the views of the Russian ambassador, or someone from the embassy, of the case. I would like to hear more of its detail.

If the motion is passed we would make a recommendation to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and it would go into that system. Here we are trying to highlight the case and hopefully achieve some sort of justice for the family of this individual. On that basis there is general consensus among the members of the committee. The sensible thing to do would be to put it on hold until we get more information.