Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We all know about couples who would love to adopt a child in Ireland but there are no children available to adopt. It is very much a silent pain experienced by many people throughout the island. As a politician, people tell me we would be better off spending our time and efforts to bring experts from abroad to look at ways of simplifying the adoption process in this country, which is quite complicated at present. What specifically is the Irish Family Planning Association doing to promote adoption? It is funded by taxpayers' money. What percentage of the tax funding goes on working to improve adoption services compared with spending on promoting the campaign to repeal the eight amendment? Will Mr. Behan tell us how many conferences his organisation has held? How many experts from abroad has it brought in to talk about that? How can it improve the services in Ireland?