Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for granting time for this important issue which affects so many people. I have been seeking to raise on the Adjournment for some days the position in which prospective adopters find themselves with regard to the possibility of adopting in either Vietnam or in Russia.

Under our adoption system, under the Adoption Act 1991 for which I was responsible as it was a Private Members' Bill, provision was made for the first time for the recognition of foreign adoptions and for an arrangement to be put in place whereby the Adoption Board can grant what are known as declarations of suitability for inter-country adoptions. There are many people currently in the State who have been deemed suitable to adopt and who hoped or anticipated that they would effect adoptions in either Vietnam or in Russia.

I wish to first briefly address the problems with regard to Vietnam. For five years we had in place a bilateral agreement with the Vietnamese to facilitate the adoption by Irish people of children in Vietnam in circumstances in which our own authorities were satisfied that children were being properly protected and all proper and appropriate procedures were applied. It has been known for some considerable time that the arrangement would expire by 1 May of this year and it was an issue that I raised by way of parliamentary question on a number of occasions.

It was not until 6 March 2009, some seven weeks prior to the expiration of the agreement, that the Minister of State's office forwarded to the Vietnamese authorities a new draft bilateral agreement, which, essentially, is an international treaty. As I understand it, a delegation went from the Minister of State's office on or around 20 April last to Vietnam to see whether whatever difficulties had arisen could be resolved.

We have now passed 1 May but no new bilateral agreement is in place. The Minister of State, on 28 April, issued a statement in which he detailed from his perspective the background and which contained a most disturbing sentence. He stated that it is not possible to indicate at this time whether or when that process, that is, the process of reaching a bilateral agreement, is likely to successfully conclude. In other words, the Minister of State indicated there was a possibility no such agreement would be effected. Many people across the country hope to adopt in Vietnam. They are anxious about their circumstances. I am aware of some people who intended to depart for Vietnam at the end of April with a view to adopting in May or June. There is an urgent need for the Minister of State to clarify what is being done. He must also explain why he has been so slow in dealing with this matter.

The new draft bilateral agreement should have gone to the Vietnamese authorities last autumn. It is unreasonable to have expected that in seven weeks of its being forwarded, the matter would be complete.

In the case of Russian adoptions, there is equally a large number of couples who wish to effect an adoption there. However, difficulties have arisen in that the Russian authorities want post-placement reports forwarded to them but the HSE is now not providing these type of reports. As a consequence, many individuals who expected to adopt in Russia and have had children identified to them as being available for adoption, are not able to proceed with adoptions. What is the Minister of State doing about this?

To date, 636 adoptions have been effected by Irish couples in Vietnam, almost 13% of the total adoptions of an inter-country nature effected sine 1991. There have been 1,229 effected in Russia, almost 30% of the total 4,690 adoptions recorded as having been recognised at the end of December 2007. The Minister of State must give a detailed explanation as to the current position and put on the Dáil record the nature of the current difficulties impeding the conclusion of the necessary agreement with the Vietnamese authorities.

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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I first sought to raise this issue on the Adjournment on 3 March, three days before the agreement was forwarded to Vietnam. On 30 April I submitted a parliamentary question about the matter. I join with other Members in expressing concern at the position into which parents and children have been put. I also want to be positive. It is absolutely urgent that a Minister visit Vietnam and the conclusion of the new agreement be achieved at a level that is acceptable to both sides of the protocol. The same issue arises curiously with Russian adoption. An administrative readjustment is not acceptable to those on the other side of the signing process.

I have read with care the previous replies from the Minister of State. Every Member in the Chamber shares his concern that children be given the maximum protection at the highest international standard. That should not be set against the rights of children to have a life other than in an institutional setting or the right of parents to provide a home for a child.

Another issue arises with the manner in which there has been an administrative drag in this matter, separate from the Minister of State and Parliament. We are now at a stage where the matter is extremely urgent. With the absence of a new agreement, the whole adoption process has shut down since 1 May . Those with existing adoptions registered, those waiting for registration and those in process are all affected. In his last detailed reply, the Minister of State gave assurances about some of these categories which are not at risk. What about those places where negotiations have been initiated but not concluded? Will the Minister of State take this matter in hand and resolve it?

The Department of Foreign Affairs arranges the signature of international agreements, the text of which has been brought to conclusion by the lead Department. The lead Department, however, is not the final arranger to the assent of both sides at the signing of protocols between countries. One must respect the other side of the agreement, in these cases the Vietnamese Republic and Russia. The advantage of this is that one would have a completed agreement that could be used as a model, not just in content but as a process for conclusion. We want to achieve a resolution to this matter as soon as possible.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Considering the importance of Vietnam as a country for adoption by Irish couples and families, it is an absolute disgrace the Government allowed the bilateral inter-country agreement between Ireland and Vietnam to lapse on 1 May 2009. The Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, is the one most responsible in this matter. He was warned by supporting NGOs, prospective adoptive families and Members of the House on numerous occasions in recent months that time was running out on renewing the agreement. However, he showed no sense of urgency and took no urgent steps to ensure a fresh agreement was in place by 1 May.

In this case, the blame cannot be laid at the door of the recession. It was plain, old fashioned negligence and laziness. If the Minister had travelled to Vietnam last year, undoubtedly everything would have been resolved by now. It was not until the week commencing 20 April 2009 that the Minister bothered to send an Irish delegation to Vietnam, a week before the expiry date on 1 May. Too little too late.

France had no difficulty negotiating a new bilateral adoption agreement with Vietnam. Why should Ireland be different? If only the effort had been made.

Now over 1,500 prospective adoptive families who are at various stages of the adoption process are left in the lurch. They do not know when, or if, a new agreement will be reached. Their efforts to adopt have been stopped dead at various stages of the process, short of the referral stage.

The hundreds of Vietnamese children, most of whom are living in orphanages in poor conditions and had the expectation of a new life in a family environment in Ireland, have had their hopes, and perhaps their futures, dashed. The very minimum the Minister should have done was to put in place an interim agreement to continue the process pending the negotiation of a new agreement.

As a mitigating factor in his defence, the Minister of State claims the need to ensure the principles of the Hague Convention are adhered to. That is not the case. It is simply another reason he should have acted with alacrity and circumspection to resolve the matter.

Issues with other countries regarding the Hague principles, particularly Russia, have yet to be resolved. It is high time the Minister of State fulfilled his responsibilities to all concerned at home and abroad.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I wish to underline the urgency and concerns of prospective adoptive parents in this matter and stress to my parliamentary colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Andrews, the importance of bringing these negotiations to a conclusion. I hope he can put on record the facts surrounding the current negotiations between Ireland and Vietnam. Of course the issues in question are complex but prospective adoptive parents need to have the most up-to-date information made available to them.

Obviously, families have real concerns about a difficult process which can take four or five years to complete. Perhaps the Minister of State will outline what he is doing to bring the negotiations to a conclusion.

Another issue that has arisen from this debate, particularly in the Dublin area, is the need for staff to speed up these assessments. Perhaps the Minister of State can outline the communications his officials have had with Vietnam and Russia regarding future bilateral adoption agreements. I hope for a successful outcome in this.

It is important to express our concern about the HSE's role. Obviously, international agreements are complex and other countries are seeking post-adoption commitments from Ireland. The HSE should be pulling out all the stops to make this happen so that children are protected. I do not think it is focusing closely enough on the issue at present, however. At the heart of the matter are children living in faceless institutions who deserve the comfort of a family home. If the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, is required to travel to Vietnam, I urge him to go. The Department of the Taoiseach should get involved if representation is needed at a senior level. We should bring all the force of the State to bear on this issue because the wait cannot be allowed to continue. The complexities can be ironed out and I recognise that the Minister of State is working diligently on bringing the issue to a satisfactory conclusion.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputies for raising this issue and affording me the opportunity to outline the current position on this sensitive matter. I will begin by putting the subject of inter-country adoption into context. Inter-country adoption has become an increasing phenomenon in recent years. The International Social Service has estimated that between 30,000 and 40,000 children around the world are adopted annually. These children generally come from developing countries or those in transition and are received by families living in industrialised countries, particularly in Europe and North America. This trend is reflected in Ireland, as requests for inter-country adoption assessments are continuously increasing. A study on inter-country adoption undertaken by the children's research centre in Trinity College revealed that Ireland has one of the highest rates for inter-country adoption in Europe.

It is against this background that my office is working to create the appropriate legislative, policy and administrative frameworks to ensure a well regulated regime of adoption. Our aim is to support and protect prospective parents and, more important, the children for whom adoption services are devised and provided.

Deputies will be aware that the Adoption Bill 2009, which will give force of law to the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption, was published on 23 January 2009. A core principle of the Hague Convention is that inter-country adoption should be child centred, that is, in all stages of the process the child's interests must be paramount. Legislating for inter-country adoption is essential to give protections to children in the process of adoption. The Hague convention has put in place the equivalent of a contract between states to regulate the standards that will apply in each jurisdiction. It is an additional safeguard for a receiving country like Ireland regarding the standards that are applied in a sending country over which we have no jurisdiction. As a receiving country, it is especially important to have confidence in the process of consent to the adoption, the status of the child as adoptable and the guarantee of no improper financial gain from the process. The convention is based on the premise that inter-country adoption should only be considered when a suitable family cannot be found for the child in his or her country of origin. Accordingly, a series of options such as the child being cared for by relatives or in a family within his or her own country are primary considerations. The convention does not oblige a sending country to engage in a particular number of adoptions; rather countries are advised to engage in only as many inter-country adoptions as they can reasonably control. The Department of Health and Children fully supports this approach.

Despite the situation in individual countries, on a global scale fewer children appear to be available for inter-country adoption. Many developing countries are no longer able to release enough children to respond to the adoption requests of receiving countries and this situation can create pressure on sending countries which jeopardise the paramount interests of the child.

I firmly believe that legislation and specifically the regime of the Hague convention provides an assurance for individual children, their families and the State that appropriate procedures have been followed and that an adoption was carried out in the best interests of the child. As such, it is our intention that all inter-country adoptions will now meet the standards of the Hague convention. Under the proposed new legislative regime, prospective adoptive parents will be able to adopt from countries which have ratified the convention or from those countries with which Ireland has a bilateral agreement based on Hague standards. As part of the preparations for the likely passage and entry into force of these new legislative arrangements, my office has been liaising closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs to identify and negotiate with countries seeking homes abroad for children in need of alternative care which cannot be provided domestically. We are working actively to assess the possibility of entering into bilateral agreements with a small number of countries, including Vietnam and the Russian Federation.

In the case of Vietnam, we have a foundation in the form of the agreement which expired in recent days. We have no agreement in place with Russia although many Irish applicants adopt from that country. We understand there may be issues on the Russian side regarding placements with Irish applicants. This matter appears to pertain to the provision of post-adoption reports in respect of children already adopted in Ireland. I am examining the matter and will report separately and in detail to the House on it. A meeting has taken place today between my Office and the Russian Embassy regarding the removal of the HSE form the blacklist issued by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Can the Minister of State tell us more about that?

Cyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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Allow the Minister of State to continue.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am trying to be helpful.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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We have found that a small number of post-placement reports have not been furnished by specific HSE areas. They are with parents at present and we hope to be able to bring the process to a conclusion so that we are removed from the blacklist as soon as possible.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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It is basically a HSE problem.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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It is a problem which I would not like to say is entirely the fault of the HSE. Indeed, I would say it is not the fault of the HSE in most cases. It would be inappropriate to use the word "fault" in this instance. I think it is simply a practice that has developed but the Russian authorities have put their foot down and we need to respond accordingly. My office is undertaking preparatory work on the contents of an agreement with the Russian Federation which includes anticipating its likely requirements.

Work on a bilateral agreement with Vietnam has been ongoing for over 14 months. During this period, three visits have been made to Vietnam by officials from my office, most recently to discuss the draft text of an agreement. As Deputies will be aware, the current agreement enabling inter-country adoption from Vietnam to Ireland expired on 1 May. The Government considered the agreement and the possibility of a roll over for a five year term but, in view of the pending adoption Bill 2009 and the serious concerns raised in other jurisdictions regarding adoption in Vietnam, it decided it would have to negotiate a new and strengthened agreement. This decision was communicated to the Vietnamese Government through the appropriate diplomatic channels and a draft bilateral agreement was provided to the Vietnamese side. In order to progress the matter, an Irish delegation travelled to Hanoi on the week commencing 20 April 2009, which was the earliest opportunity to meet with the relevant Vietnamese Ministries, for an intensive round of discussions on this draft bilateral agreement. Although significant progress was made on the draft agreement, a number of issues remain outstanding. These negotiations are ongoing and have not yet concluded. I reiterate my personal commitment, and the commitment of the Government, to continue with these discussions with a view to bringing them to a conclusion at the earliest possible date. It is anticipated that further proposals to advance the discussions will be made to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the coming week. It is also anticipated that the Vietnamese side will revert with proposals shortly.

I do not wish to speculate on the timeframe for or the outcome of these negotiations as these factors are genuinely difficult to determine. I can say, however, that efforts on the Irish side are intensive and will continue in the coming weeks. There has been a high level of engagement and it is clear from progress so far that there is a willingness on both sides to bring these matters to a successful conclusion if at all possible.

My colleagues in Government and I are conscious that prospective adoptive parents find the lack of definitive information extremely frustrating. However, it should be remembered that another sovereign Government is party to the discussions and consequently it would be unwise and inappropriate to air the issues or negotiate this very sensitive matter in the public domain. As doing so may jeopardise the prospects of concluding a new agreement, further details are not being made available at this time. Furthermore, it is also the case that speculation on the either the nature of the issues or the degree of progress being made is unhelpful and may prove misleading and distressing to those applicants currently waiting.

The situation in which we find ourselves arises through no lack of effort on the part of the Government or engagement by the Vietnamese side. These are complex matters and the Government is aware of the concern and anxiety this process is causing to prospective adoptive parents. It is also firmly committed to ensuring that arrangements between Ireland and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam protect the best interests of the children, their families and prospective adoptive parents. As Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, I have communicated at every opportunity updates to prospective adoptive parents and their representative groups on these matters and I have committed to continue with this process. While every effort will be made to conclude a bilateral agreement with countries from which children have traditionally been adopted by Irish applicants in advance of any of the proposed changes in Irish law taking effect, it must be acknowledged that these matters will be determined to a considerable degree by the governments of these sovereign states.

The adoption of any child, either domestically or from abroad, involves a legal process and has emotional and social considerations. Although the process can be lengthy, it is important rigorous systems are in place in which we can all have confidence. However, we in Government have a responsibility to ensure the best interests of these children and all other children being adopted by Irish people are promoted and protected.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Can the Minister of State give an approximate timeframe?

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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No.