Ms Maria Corbett:

For us this is very black and white. The Hague Convention sets out the minimum standards under which countries should operate. It has taken us a long time to get inside the Hague Convention network. We are there now and we cannot trust the processes in countries outside the Hague Convention countries.

It is quite clear from the 2009 ISS report that the circumstances by which the children are placed for adoption have been questioned. For example, the report states the number of "abandonments" depends considerably on the extent to which there is demand for the children concerned. If there was a demand for infant children, small children were effectively being placed for adoption. It is not conscionable that Ireland would engage in adoptions with a country when it does not know that those it is dealing with are not involved child trafficking, child abduction, deception of parents and falsification of documents. These are the details of what has been found internationally to have happened, not 20, 40 or 60 years ago but in the past few years.

It is a difficult issue for the prospective adopting families and I understand their personal pain as they wish to create or expand their families. They also wish to be protective of the children they have adopted who are being raised as citizens in Ireland as part of our community, and we need to be careful not to stigmatise them. I am conscious that when I speak I may cast question marks over adoptions in Ireland and I may stigmatise those children. I do not want to do that and I wish I did not have to make those statements, but I need to be clear that we are not able to trust the processes in non-Hague-Convention countries. The convention was established to set minimum standards for adoptions and we have to stay within it. There is no reason we would go outside it, as that would be a breach of children's rights.

The question was posed about children's rights versus parents' rights. This is a child protection issue. We do not know whether children are legitimately given up with the free and full consent of the birth parents or whether substantial money has changed hands in a corruptive practice. We cannot engage in that. While we are conscious of the personal plight of families who wish to adopt, our answer is not to go outside the Hague Convention and to engage with the Child and Family Agency. It is about being honest, up-front and clear with them. While they have a right to an assessment, do they want to be one of 14 waiting for one child in a lengthy, expensive, difficult and emotionally draining process? We have a large number of children in the foster service. We are constantly in need of new foster families. There is a hope that we will, in time and with legislative backing, be able to allow children in long-term foster care to be adopted by their foster families. This is a domestic solution to children who need homes in Ireland. It is also a way to address the genuine need and desire of families to create or expand their own families. I cannot put it any more black and white than this. We have to resist the emotional request from prospective adoptive families to move us outside the convention. There is no reason to do that. If one respects children's rights and is concerned about child protection, we must stay within the convention.