Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

-----as to when is it appropriate to ask a question.

I will finish with an explicit question about promised legislation. Ireland has not ratified the Hague Convention on the protection of the child. We have not done so because we have not passed the adoption Bill which is on the list of promised legislation. Our failure to ratify the adoption Bill is accompanied by the failure of Vietnam to accept the Hague Convention. Vietnam aspires to accept the Hague Convention in 2010. It is most likely to be 2011-----

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