Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the fact the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs cannot attend the Chamber for this matter but I welcome the fact the Minister for Justice and Equality will take it.

I am not an expert on international adoption law and all it entails. However, I subscribe to the principle that it needs to be international standards-based and child-centred. Everyone engaged in the process would also subscribe to those principles.

I am hoping the Minister will be able to update us on the conclusion of a bilateral adoption agreement with Russia. I also want to raise the issue of the pre-Haguers, namely those who, before Ireland's ratification of the Hague Convention on inter-country adoptions, had approval to pursue an adoption but which expires on 31 October 2013. The process by which a couple are approved by the Adoption Authority, in conjunction with the Health Service Executive, is rigorous and can take up to several years with courses, studies, medical examinations and financial commitment. There is also a significant emotional commitment on the part of these couples. I have several constituents who would be termed pre-Haguers and have been in the adoption process for over 11 years. Can one imagine the roller coaster that this has been? Now, on the cusp of effecting an adoption in Russia, they face a trauma if they do not complete it by 31 October.

The Minister will be aware that the adoption process involves registration with the country in which a couple is trying to effect an adoption, a referral process and engagement with that country's court system to secure a decree, which effectively gives a couple the right to subsequently approach the Irish Embassy to secure a passport for the child being adopted. All the pre-Hague Convention couples who have invested significantly - not least emotionally - in this process over a long period are now faced with an arbitrary cut-off date of 31 October.

My request to the Minister is twofold. I urge him to do everything possible, in conjunction with his Government colleagues and the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, to effect a bilateral adoption agreement with the Russian authorities as quickly as possible. More importantly, for those who are currently engaged in the process, there needs to be an in-process grace period for those who can prove, to an acceptable standard, that they are engaged in the process and have a referral and that a child has been identified for them for adoption, but who are now victims of the torturous administrative and court processes in these countries through which they must go to effect an adoption. These people need an in-process grace period to facilitate them in completing adoptions. My request is twofold: first, I ask for an update on the bilateral negotiations and, second, from a humanitarian perspective, I ask the Minister to put in place an interim arrangement for the pre-Hague Convention couples who are engaged in the process of adoption and who face, after several years and after enormous investment in that process, the rug being pulled from underneath their feet in trying to effect an adoption in these countries for which they have a referral.

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