Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

There is nothing to prevent the Minister negotiating and completing an agreement with the Vietnamese that is compliant with the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption. France, Spain, Italy and Canada, who have all ratified the Hague Convention, are continuing to facilitate adoptions from Vietnam and to ensure the necessary standards to protect the welfare of children are properly applied. As a consequence of the incompetent manner in which the Government has dealt with this sensitive issue, hundreds of Irish adoption applicants are now left in limbo and hundreds of children for whom adoption would provide a better life may remain in orphanages.

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