Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I am taking this matter, which is of great interest to many Members, on behalf of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, and I thank Deputy McCarthy for raising it.

There was a fundamental change to adoption in Ireland with the commencement of the Adoption Act 2010 and the coming into force of the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoptions on 1 November of last year. In the context of intercountry adoption, Ireland has now signed and ratified the Hague Convention, which aims to promote the highest standards and best practice in intercountry adoption. The practice of intercountry adoption is not without risk. The Hague Convention seeks to minimise that risk, with those countries who are party to it working in collaboration in order to build confidence in the process in both sending and receiving countries.

The Adoption Authority of Ireland, AAI, is the central authority for this country with regard to intercountry adoption. As the Hague Convention is designed to ensure a minimum set of standards in respect of such adoption, the AAI as indicated that its first priority is to reach agreements on arrangements with other countries which have ratified the convention. Representatives of the AAI recently returned from the USA and intend to develop an administrative arrangement with that country in respect of intercountry adoption. In the coming weeks, these representatives also intend to visit Mexico and Vietnam in the context of entering into administrative arrangements with both jurisdictions. An arrangement with the latter will be dependent on the entering into force of the Hague Convention in Vietnam on 1 February 2012.

The Minister has been informed by the Irish Embassy in Addis Ababa - it is of assistance that we have an embassy there - that the Ethiopian Government is strongly committed to protecting the best interests of the child and that the ratification of the Hague Convention is an objective for it. While the Ethiopian authorities are supportive of the goal of Hague-compliance, it seems likely that it will take time for them to put in place arrangements to allow for their ratification of the convention. UNICEF is working closely with the Ethiopian authorities to support the development of enhanced policies and programmes in support of children.

As well as providing for the ratification of the convention, the Adoption Act also provides that we may, as Deputy McCarthy noted, enter into bilateral agreements with countries such as Ethiopia which have not ratified the Hague Convention. The negotiation of bilateral agreements on intercountry adoption with states which have not ratified the Hague Convention is governed by section 73 of the Adoption Act 2010, which states "the Authority, with the prior consent of the Minister, may enter into discussions with any non-contracting state concerning the possibility of the Government entering into a bilateral agreement with that State". The opening of negotiations on such a bilateral agreement would require an analysis of the current situation regarding adoptions in Ethiopia; issues regarding the compatibility of the laws between the two countries; and the plans of that jurisdiction vis-À-vis the Hague Convention.

In the context of Ethiopia, the AAI has given preliminary indications that certain issues - particularly those relating to the effect of Ethiopian adoptions in the context of the Adoption Act 2010 - which will require detailed consideration are likely to arise. It is also acknowledged that the adoption process is a tremendously emotional journey to which legal rigour must, in the best interests of the child and all other parties to an adoption, be applied. Add to this the period of change the Adoption Act 2010 has induced and the result is a very difficult and demanding landscape for prospective adoptive parents. There are few certainties or guarantees and, on occasion, governments in both sending and receiving countries may make decisions about what is in the best interests of children that will give rise to concerns on the part of prospective adoptive parents.

The Minister is extremely conscious that the AAI has a full work programme in the terms of Hague countries, as well as the important upcoming priority of engagement with Vietnam. In addition, the AAI and officials from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs will be undertaking exploratory meetings with the Russian authorities in the coming weeks. The AAI must also prioritise checks of legal compatibility with a wide range of jurisdictions in order to process applications for the recognition of the adoptions of children already adopted from abroad by Irish citizens. These are desktop reviews in respect of which legal advice is needed. They are urgently required in order to regulate the status of children already adopted.

The Minister has sought an update on Ethiopia from the AAI and the Irish Embassy in Addis Ababa to assess possible next steps vis-À-vis that jurisdiction. However, further action must have regard to the wider work programme of the AAI and its agreed priorities.

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