Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response in relation to the establishment of the agency. Like some of my colleagues, I am interested to hear the reason for the omission of the word "support". We were all under the impression it would be included in the title. It is an important element of the type of work that the agency will undertake in terms of engagement with families and preventing crises in this area.

Another issue that comes to mind in relation to the adoption legislation published around the time of the children's referendum, which should have been addressed in the Adoption Act 2010, is adoption by step-parents and the cumbersome system in place whereby a birth parent is required to adopt his or her child. Where a child is born prior to a marriage, the father or mother wishing following marriage to become a full guardian of that child is faced with an onerous task in terms of adopting the child. This is an issue which as a Government we should be able to respond to. I am interested in hearing if the Government proposes to examine this issue.