John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and her officials for their work. I have a number of constituents who have been affected by the Russian authorities amending their adoption legislation to include a provision requiring a child to be in the national adoption database for 12 months in advance of being placed in an international adoption database. I accept the comments made by the Minister on this being good practice, but it has put people trying to adopt in a very difficult position. The change meant they were unable to complete their adoptions before 31 October 2013.

In recent months the Minister and her departmental officials have spent a great deal of time trying to find a solution to compensate for the change in Russian law. We hope the solution will be achieved with the passage of the Bill. By all accounts, there is a need to amend the Adoption Act 2010 by amending the existing transitional provision in section 63 to allow those with declarations of eligibility and suitability to adopt from Russia. The granting of an additional year to do so will sort out the problem. My understanding is that any applicant who held a valid declaration of eligibility prior to the commencement of the Adoption Act 2010 and who also held a valid declaration of eligibility and suitability for Russia on 31 October this year will be eligible for an extension of the declaration of eligibility and suitability, with the adoption to be completed by 31 October 2014. I, again, thank the Minister and her officials for their work in devising a solution to the problem for the families involved.

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