I welcome the opportunity to contribute on the Adoption Bill. It is not often that I get to speak after my colleague from County Donegal, Deputy McHugh, but I have regard for the way in which he and some of his colleagues have treated the Bill. It is an emotive issue and should not be used as a political football. I welcome the debate.

While I believe that the adoption of this Bill, if the House will excuse the pun, will be a job well done, I also recognise that the reality for many couples in Ireland is that this year will remain in their memory for many years to come for the wrong reasons. While the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, absorbed much emotional discontent, it must be put on the record that he has been put in a very undesirable position since the inter-country adoption bilateral agreement with Vietnam ran out earlier this year. Despite his best efforts to put new arrangements in place, they have not come to fore.

We must recognise that the Minister of State does not have the powers to force Vietnam into a new bilateral agreement but rather depends on the goodwill of such countries. While the Minister of State was led us to believe that progress would be made on his last trip to Vietnam in July, that goodwill from the Vietnamese authorities seems to have faded. All in this House are greatly concerned, as are the many people who are awaiting the process of adoption with that country to come to completion. Many people feel that they are stuck in a rut and that they have nowhere to go.

I welcome the Bill. One important element that should be included in it is some measure to fast-track the current process. Like many others, I have had couples from my constituency, such as those to which Deputy McHugh referred earlier, arriving in a distressed state after being through a lengthy process having their whole lives trawled through by somebody who they probably have never met before and may never meet again. At times they have felt great hope only to find out at the end that matters have been put on hold for nobody knows how long. It is a tough position to be in. I would ask the Minister of State on the passing of this Bill to ensure a new situation whereby the process is fast-tracked as much as possible.

The Minister of State also needs to take a good long look at non-Hague countries such as Russia, Ethiopia and Vietnam and examine these countries to the extent that persons currently waiting to adopt from them need to know sooner rather than later if there will be bilateral agreements. If there will not be such agreements, we must be forthright with these individuals, we must tell them and we must give them direction. If that were to be the case, we must have sympathy and due regard for those couples. I would plead with the Minister of State to amend the Bill before it finally goes through the House to recognise those couples who have been in the process post-Hague and the time they have spent going through the process of adoption. He should provide for some mechanism in the Bill to recognise what they have gone through and to fast-track their process rather than going back to the beginning again. It is only fair that these couples would be treated in such a manner.

Moreover, while it has been some time coming, it is good that the Minister of State in his short time in the Department has made the passing of this Bill a priority. Despite what some of the adoption boards in this country feel, the Minister of State, Deputy Andrews, went to great efforts, particularly in the case of the Vietnam bilateral agreement, to take the matter to conclusion. Unfortunately, he has not been able to do so. The reality is that the ability to take it to conclusion was outside of his control. I believe we all recognise that.

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