Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

On the Order of Business this morning Members were genuinely frustrated about important developments in child protection law and legislation associated with the referendum on children's rights. I share this frustration and that is why I made this point about time.

The first principle of the legislation is to move to a regime governed by the Hague Convention, namely, that Ireland would adopt from countries with which it has a bilateral agreement or are compliant with the convention. This is because we wish to ensure the best interests of children are at the centre and are given paramount consideration in the adoption process. The Hague Convention sets down a series of standards and criteria to which compliant countries must adhere.

However, I acknowledge significant delays have occurred in the completion of assessments from the Health Service Executive, HSE, and declarations from the Adoption Board. This matter has been raised on all Stages in both the Seanad and Dáil.

In response to this, after discussions with the Adoption Board and the Hague Convention, I have tabled an amendment that will allow any individual with a declaration at the establishment day of this legislation to proceed to completion, even if the application is with a non-Hague Convention or non-bilateral country. I have compromised to that extent from which quite a number of people will benefit.

I accept some will be disappointed because they will have not reached a declaration. However, the policy, as set out in the Hague Convention, is clear in this respect. Although Ireland signed the convention, it has not yet ratified it. The legislation to transpose the convention has been around for 13 years. There can be no doubt of the legislative direction. I accept Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's point that it would be inhumane to ignore the fact that so many have had to ensure an unfairly prolonged application process. In consultation with the Hague Convention, we have introduced this amendment to take cognisance of this.

On specific country issues, I met with the Mexican groups on foot of representations from Deputies. It occurred to me at that meeting that every sending country has a different adoption system and mechanism. Mexico is Hague-compliant but the unusual part of its process is that the referral occurs before the birth of the child. On paper it would be in breach of the Hague Convention's principle of subsidiarity. I am satisfied that the court process that follows thereafter provides for the protection of the best interests of the child. I have met individuals who have been disappointed in this process when the natural mother has changed her mind following the birth of her child. All the disappointment associated with that underlies the robustness of this, with which the Adoption Board does not see a difficulty. Inevitably, for any application to be entered into the register of foreign adoptions, the board would have to assess each application on its merits.

Regarding the 20 applicants for Vietnam, this was a gesture by the Vietnamese authorities on the basis that we were proceeding to a bilateral agreement with them. Events, however, interceded last summer with various international reports which caused us to postpone that bilateral relationship until such time as both countries are Hague-compliant. Nevertheless, in attempting to proceed with the 20 applications, we wrote to the Vietnamese authorities to seek their views on whether they would be inclined to continue to accept these applications. We have also prepared a mechanism that would allow these applications to continue. This has been submitted to the Attorney General. I accept this process is frustrating for the couples involved, many of whom I have met regularly. However, this remains the position that we still intend to complete.

My amendment to section 63 will address the issue of grandfather clauses. It effectively will be a suspension of the first principle of the legislation for a prolonged period. The transitional arrangement my amendment will introduce will delay the application of the legislation for a bit longer while Deputy Jan O'Sullivan proposed five years. I believe we have struck the right balance between the anxiety and difficulty for prospective adoptive parents and the first principle of the legislation to ensure all adoptions are Hague-compliant or are governed by a bilateral agreement.

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