Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputy Fitzpatrick.

I welcome this debate, as well as the statement by the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, in which she has provided a detailed up-to-date position on her activities since her appointment as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. In recent years, I have worked closely with couples in County Clare who have been tied up in the long drawn-out process of adoption. Such people have real personal cases and my heart goes out to them as it sometimes seems as though this process will never end. In recent years, couples trying to adopt a child from Vietnam in particular have been left in limbo with little progress made. No interim arrangements were put in place before the Hague Convention became law and following the lapse of Ireland's bilateral agreement with Vietnam in May 2009. Moreover, the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs made the situation even worse by not communicating with prospective adoptive parents. Consequently, the news that adoptions between Vietnam and Ireland are set to resume in the coming months is most welcome. This situation has come about due to the commitment of the new Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, who from her first days as Minister, has set out a plan to sort out this issue.

A total of 200 Irish couples were in the process of adopting children from Vietnam when the bilateral adoption agreement lapsed into 2009. A further 19 couples were at an advanced stage of adopting a child from Vietnam at that time. One couple from that group lives in my native county of Clare and I welcome the degree of engagement the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, has had with them. She has met and spoken with the couple, has been sympathetic and has listened to what they have had to say. A number of productive interactions have taken place between Ireland and Vietnam since the formation of the new Government. On her return from a recent visit to Vietnam, the Minister indicated that significant progress over key issues now has been made. She also indicated that there now is agreement on all the main issues, such as safeguards relating to consent, dealing with central authorities and issues pertaining to money. In all of these discussions, the best interests of the child have been the overriding concern. I welcome this approach and I welcome the work completed to date. I understand that the Minister, having highlighted and stressed the case of the group of 19 advanced applicants, also received a commitment from the Vietnamese Minister for Justice that priority will be given to their applications. This assurance is most welcome. It is clear that our State's relationship with Vietnam has been greatly enhanced in recent months and the work led by the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, must be built on.

I have a number of questions the Minister might address in her response to this debate. The Minister should give her views as to when adoptions can commence formally between Ireland and Vietnam. The chairman of the Adoption Authority of Ireland gave assurances last June that no impediments would exist after October 2011. Consequently, those involved wish to know when these adoptions will formally commence. In addition, when is it envisaged that an agency will be accredited to Vietnam? I wish to establish the current position regarding the accreditation process for the Helping Hands organisation.

I compliment the Minister and her officials on their work in the field of adoption and look forward to hearing her response to the questions I have posed.

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