Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for granting time for this important issue which affects so many people. I have been seeking to raise on the Adjournment for some days the position in which prospective adopters find themselves with regard to the possibility of adopting in either Vietnam or in Russia.

Under our adoption system, under the Adoption Act 1991 for which I was responsible as it was a Private Members' Bill, provision was made for the first time for the recognition of foreign adoptions and for an arrangement to be put in place whereby the Adoption Board can grant what are known as declarations of suitability for inter-country adoptions. There are many people currently in the State who have been deemed suitable to adopt and who hoped or anticipated that they would effect adoptions in either Vietnam or in Russia.

I wish to first briefly address the problems with regard to Vietnam. For five years we had in place a bilateral agreement with the Vietnamese to facilitate the adoption by Irish people of children in Vietnam in circumstances in which our own authorities were satisfied that children were being properly protected and all proper and appropriate procedures were applied. It has been known for some considerable time that the arrangement would expire by 1 May of this year and it was an issue that I raised by way of parliamentary question on a number of occasions.

It was not until 6 March 2009, some seven weeks prior to the expiration of the agreement, that the Minister of State's office forwarded to the Vietnamese authorities a new draft bilateral agreement, which, essentially, is an international treaty. As I understand it, a delegation went from the Minister of State's office on or around 20 April last to Vietnam to see whether whatever difficulties had arisen could be resolved.

We have now passed 1 May but no new bilateral agreement is in place. The Minister of State, on 28 April, issued a statement in which he detailed from his perspective the background and which contained a most disturbing sentence. He stated that it is not possible to indicate at this time whether or when that process, that is, the process of reaching a bilateral agreement, is likely to successfully conclude. In other words, the Minister of State indicated there was a possibility no such agreement would be effected. Many people across the country hope to adopt in Vietnam. They are anxious about their circumstances. I am aware of some people who intended to depart for Vietnam at the end of April with a view to adopting in May or June. There is an urgent need for the Minister of State to clarify what is being done. He must also explain why he has been so slow in dealing with this matter.

The new draft bilateral agreement should have gone to the Vietnamese authorities last autumn. It is unreasonable to have expected that in seven weeks of its being forwarded, the matter would be complete.

In the case of Russian adoptions, there is equally a large number of couples who wish to effect an adoption there. However, difficulties have arisen in that the Russian authorities want post-placement reports forwarded to them but the HSE is now not providing these type of reports. As a consequence, many individuals who expected to adopt in Russia and have had children identified to them as being available for adoption, are not able to proceed with adoptions. What is the Minister of State doing about this?

To date, 636 adoptions have been effected by Irish couples in Vietnam, almost 13% of the total adoptions of an inter-country nature effected sine 1991. There have been 1,229 effected in Russia, almost 30% of the total 4,690 adoptions recorded as having been recognised at the end of December 2007. The Minister of State must give a detailed explanation as to the current position and put on the Dáil record the nature of the current difficulties impeding the conclusion of the necessary agreement with the Vietnamese authorities.

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