Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue. I compliment the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste on their vision in assigning ministries and in establishing the new Departments. I have not had the chance to say as much directly on the floor of the House. In some ways it is a terrible indictment of the country and in other ways it is a great mark of a country that it took us until 2011 to establish a fully-fledged Department of Children and Youth Affairs. I congratulate and compliment the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, on the work she has done in a short period. I echo the sentiments of previous speakers especially in respect of the staff in the Minister's office. Anyone who has worked with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs would agree that the staff of the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, at the Civil Service grades and at advisory grades are exemplary. The Minister is lucky to have excellent people working for her and I would appreciate it if she relayed my compliments to them.

These issues probably affect every Member. There is no doubt that at some stage during a representative's time in the Oireachtas a family will probably present at a clinic or office and will recount the difficulties they have had with regard to intercountry adoptions. It may be an easy option to consider intercountry adoption as something associated to the developing world or, as it was known heretofore, the Third World. However, this is not always the case. We are in a position in Ireland whereby we are engaging in intercountry adoptions with First World or developed countries. Sometimes people experience considerable difficulties with these nations as well. It is important not to single out particular categories of country or to label some countries as troublesome and others as trouble-free in our dealings with them.

I concur with Deputy Harris. Issues may arise when one deals with federal countries in which there are different family law arrangements within the same national boundary. We have seen as much in respect of Florida recently. This adds a layer of complexity to what is already a very complex situation.

In recent times we have focused on the need to reduce costs and the cost base and to remove layers of civil servants and so on. One area that could be of considerable benefit to the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, and her Department is our diplomatic network throughout the world. It could carry out a great deal of the preliminary work in building up relationships and smoothing out any creases in terms of Ireland's relationship with countries from which we are trying to adopt.

I break no secret by stating that I held a productive meeting with the Minister in the not-too-distant past. I relayed to her a concern in respect of a particular issue with a European country, namely Belarus. It is fully compliant with the Hague Convention now and there is willingness to try to put back on the agenda the good working relationship that existed previously. There is an amenable atmosphere in the Department in this regard. I realise the Minister is up to her eyes at the moment with the Vietnam issue and that she is attempting to regularise the situation with Ethiopia but there is potential to consider countries a good deal closer to home and to regularise our relationship with them in terms of intercountry adoption.

I refer to an experience I have related to the Minister previously. It is harrowing for a family when they must wait and when they do not know the position and when there are false starts and no-starts. It is nobody's fault. I would not put blame on anybody, but we cannot lose sight of the child who is at the centre of each intercountry adoption from the United States, Mexico or China. We must maintain our focus on him or her. Ultimately, we need to put in place the best legal framework for each child who needs to be at the centre of the process.

Deputy Simon Harris spoke about the children's rights referendum. People have been asking the Minister when it will take place. I would prefer not to have it this year, next year or the year after if it means the proposal will be a bad one. Any constitutional amendment needs to be dealt with properly from the start. We need to spend time consulting the various interests involved. For the first time since 1937 when Bunreacht na hÉireann was enacted by the people, we will be inserting in the Constitution a series of rights for children living in Ireland today who were born of Irish parentage or who may be adopted by Irish parents and become Irish citizens in the future. We need to be cognisant of the current and future needs of the children of Ireland and children in other countries who may be the subject of intercountry adoptions.

I pay tribute to the Adoption Authority of Ireland. There is a tendency in this country to denigrate public institutions and civil servants. However, the impression I have gleaned from the parents who have spoken to me is that the staff of the Adoption Authority of Ireland are very understanding and humane. They put the interests of parents on the table when talking to public representatives. Deputy Simon Harris suggested officials within the authority could form a parliamentary affairs division to deal specifically with parliamentary queries. That might reduce the number of parliamentary questions being asked.

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