John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this most sensitive of issues. Practically every Member in this Chamber has had some experience of adoption, whether it be in respect of his or her own family, a friend or a member of the public coming to them to look for some sort of support or assistance. Adoption, by its very nature, is a hugely emotive and emotional subject. There is an inherent conflict between the legal requirements associated with the process and the raw emotion that is evident at each step of the adoption process.

For better or worse, adoption must be a legal process. It involves the severing of ties with one family and re-establishing them with another. When such fundamental changes are being made to the status of a child, it is imperative that the legal basis is sound.

We debated the 2010 Adoption Act, which the former Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, Mr. Barry Andrews, took through the House. That legislation provided greater integrity around the adoption process in Ireland, and that was certainly welcome at the time. It is a reality, however, that in improving standards, we place an onus also on the sending countries to improve their domestic systems and reach the Hague standards.

I listened with interest to the contributions in this House in recent weeks on the Minister's actions. There has been a dramatic change in focus between those contributions and the tone of the debate during the passage of the Adoption Act 2010. At that time, all of the focus of the debate from the Opposition benches was placed firmly with the prospective adoptive parents. I suppose all of us probably attended meetings with parents who wanted to adopt and who felt there are all sorts of barricades being put up. While there was some acknowledgement of the central position of the child, the primary focus was on the plight of prospective adoptive parents who were facing the prospect of having to change countries from where they hoped to adopt. In my county, there was much work done and parents had gone to extremes to adopt a child only to find all of a sudden there was a road block in the way. That certainly raised emotions and people became very critical of politicians in general and how we were dealing with the issue. Given the long and protracted assessment process, it is only natural to empathise with prospective adoptive parents. However, adoption must always be about the child. The Minister has made strong statements to that effect in recent times and that is the way it should be. It is noteworthy that the tone of the recent debate has reflected the realisation that the child is most important and that is a change in the focus since 2010.

Difficult and politically unpopular decisions were taken by the previous Government in respect of inter-country adoption. There was much criticism from the then Opposition. That is the way matters turn out. There is a great deal of criticism from the Opposition from time to time. Indeed, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, criticised the decision to effectively suspend inter-country adoption from Vietnam despite the fact that there were two very critical UN reports, which raised serious concerns about the integrity of the adoption system in Vietnam. I am pleased that the Minister and the chairman of the Adoption Authority of Ireland, Mr. Geoffrey Shannon, have stated that the adoption process has improved in Vietnam and that Vietnam has signed up to the Hague agreement. It is undoubtedly the case that standards have improved in Vietnam because of a genuine desire on the part of the Vietnamese authorities to accept the Hague agreement but also because of the position taken by Ireland and other countries in respect of inter-country adoption.

I look forward to the resumption of inter-country adoptions with Vietnam. I know many families in my home county of Wexford that have adopted from Vietnam, and these children are flourishing in a loving and caring environment. There always will be risk attached to inter-country adoption. Our job as legislators is to reduce that risk to a level whereby we can say, on balance, the child is being adopted following a process that has ensured free and informed consent.

Wexford, particularly the north of the county, has a number of children who were adopted from Vietnam. Families are looking after them to the best of their ability and the children are involved in the local community, including the GAA club. Hopefully, they will be able to help the Castletown GAA club in the future. At the time the barricades came down and adoption from Vietnam was no longer allowed, there was hell to pay in that area of the county because a number of families had adopted and a number of other families were in the process of trying to adopt. They had gone down a long road when, all of a sudden, they were not allowed to continue. With good reason, all sorts of allegations were made and questions were raised.

The Minister said Ireland will enter into an administrative agreement with Vietnam when Vietnam signs up to the Hague convention. Will she outline to the House what is the timeframe with regard to an administrative agreement? She has said that the profile of children who will be available for adoption will change and the children are likely to be older. Given that prospective adoptive parents have to make critical decisions about what country they hope to adopt from, can the Minister give any details on the changing profile of the children who are likely to be adopted from Vietnam?

In the past, prospective adoptive parents had to pay a significant sum of money to adopt from Vietnam. Will this be the case in the future and, if so, what guarantees will be built into the administrative agreement to ensure this money is not used in a sinister way that would incentivise the placement of children for adoption?

As part of the last bilateral agreement with Vietnam, a mediation agency had to be licensed in Ireland and Hanoi. Will this be the case under the terms of the administrative agreement? Helping Hands was the agency that fulfilled this function in the past. As I recall, Helping Hands was criticised by the UNICEF report and was investigated by the Adoption Board, as it was then. Was that report ever published? Was it submitted to the Minister? Will Helping Hands be the agency that mediates the adoptions from Vietnam in the future? Will the Minister clarify what is the current status of Helping Hands and whether that agency is still in receipt of public funds from the HSE? If so, for what are these funds being used, given no adoptions have taken place between Ireland and Vietnam for more than a year?

I welcome the fact the Minister has adopted a hands-on approach to this issue. All of the Deputies on this side have come in for severe criticism given the slowness of the issue of the Hague convention and all that was to be signed up to with Vietnam, although I understand the reasons for that slow pace. There are many families who want to adopt and, obviously, there are many children in other countries that could do with being placed in the hands of families who would look after them and treat them as if they were born to them. It is important that we would move quickly in this regard and, at the same time, ensure all of the protections are in place.

I hope the Minister will reply to the questions I have raised. Overall, I welcome the fact the Minister has been up-front in regard to the issue of inter-country adoption. I hope we will speedily move to a situation where as many families as possible in this country will be able to adopt children.

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