Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

I understand people looking for timeframes. It is what I would like to see. To arrive at a clear timeframe, we must look first at the situation between the two countries. If a country is not Hague-compliant, a bilateral agreement must be negotiated, as is the case with Russia, for example. I would not rule this out because it is a possibility. Given the large numbers of children who have been adopted from Russia, I understand perfectly that couples would wish to adopt from the same country. Even though it has not signed the Hague Convention, I believe we should examine the feasibility of entering into a bilateral agreement with Russia, and also with Ethiopia for the same reason. Many families have adopted from that country too.

I will outline the situation for Deputy Connaughton. I asked the AAI to meet the Russian authorities, which it did in December. There was a preliminary discussion about the potential for a bilateral inter-country adoption process. That was a follow-up to discussions in March which took place at the initiative of the Russian authority, something I take to be a good sign. I await a full report and some follow-up work from the AAI.

One of the issues is whether we can come to an agreement with the Russian authorities on post-placement reports. In the past, the Russian authorities have insisted on a type of post-placement report which is not constitutionally feasible for us. What appeared to be on the table from Russia would run into constitutional difficulties. It dealt with the follow-up process with families who had adopted. For us to allow, for example, visits to families to see how an adoption is going is constitutionally difficult. We see adoption as a final event, although many couples may be very happy to have a type of open adoption.

There are constitutional difficulties and that is the nub of the discussion. We have to work with the Russian authorities in this regard. I had a discussion with the Russian commissioner for children during which I explained the constitutional difficulties and he said that was useful information. I also asked the chairman of the AAI to further discussions to establish whether there is leeway and whether we can come to a satisfactory agreement. If these difficulties are considered to be a serious impediment, we are in a new scenario but efforts are being made to resolve this and I would like to bring it to a conclusion in order that families will know one way or another.

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