Dáil debates

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Other Questions

Inter-Country Adoptions

10:20 am

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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8. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his views on the announcement that his Department is no longer pursuing an adoption agreement with Russia; the reason for this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35534/15]

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Many families were left devastated recently by the Department's announcement that it is no longer pursuing an adoption agreement with Russia, despite being strung along for many years. In response to questions from me before the summer recess, the Minister said that efforts were still progressing. Why has the Minister taken the political decision not to progress this bilateral agreement further?

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Work on a bilateral agreement with the Russian Federation has not ceased. It remains the aim of my Department to achieve a bilateral agreement, but I do not believe this will be possible to finalise it in the short term because of a number of difficult issues outstanding.

I recently met representatives of the Russian Irish Adoption Group. I am conscious that members of the group have adopted Russian children in the past, prior to the current arrangements, and many, very understandably, seek to adopt another child from Russia. The Russian Irish Adoption Group gave a powerful presentation of the sensitivities involved. I am of the view that it is essential to give clear, frank information about the likely timescale potentially involved in trying to secure an agreement with the Russian Federation in order to allow fully informed decision-making. I advised the group of the current position regarding a bilateral agreement and I outlined to them the issues that still remain despite our continuing efforts.

The Adoption Act 2010 provides for adoption of children into Ireland from countries that have signed and ratified the Hague Convention and from countries where a bilateral agreement on adoption is in place. The Hague Convention is a landmark in regard to inter-country adoption and provides an international architecture that prioritises the best interests of the child. While it has signed the convention, the Russian Federation has not ratified the treaty, and this has prevented recent adoptions from Russia into Ireland. We have been trying to reach a bilateral agreement with the Russian Federation on inter-country adoption for a number of years, but significant issues remain in the way of an agreement. For example, the Irish Constitution is very clear on the integrity of the family unit and the Russian requirement for post-placement reports on adopted children poses a real difficulty in this regard. Other practical issues include the accreditation of adoption mediation agencies to facilitate inter-country adoption between Ireland and Russia, the fees to be charged by agencies for facilitating adoptions, and matters relating to re-adoption in cases in which an earlier placement has broken down. We will continue to pursue the matter and try to resolve the difficulties outstanding.

In the meantime, I will seek to progress very important improvements in Irish adoption services, including the draft legislation for adoption information and tracing, which is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Health and Children. This is important legislation affecting all adoptions, past and future. We are also working on the adoption (amendment) Bill which incorporates amendments required to the Adoption Act 2010 arising from recent referendums, including the children's referendum. The Bill will include other important changes, including provision for step-parent adoption.

10:30 am

Photo of Seán BarrettSeán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I remind the House that we have only 14 minutes remaining in this slot and two Deputies are waiting to ask questions. I ask all Members to stick to the time allocated.

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Everyone agrees that the best interests of the child are paramount. There are still hundreds of thousands of Russian children in state care who could be adopted by an Irish family and given a second chance. We would not need a bilateral agreement but for the fact that Russia has not signed up to the Hague Convention. While I welcome the fact that the Minister is being clear and frank now, for the past four years families were given hope and led to believe that matters were progressing well. The Minister is now saying that it still is the aim of his Department to progress the issue, which is welcome, but has the Department set a target date for completion? My understanding, having spoken to representatives of the families, is that the Department received correspondence from Russia in October 2014, but that correspondence has not been responded to and nothing has happened for over 12 months.

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I am very pleased that the Deputy acknowledges, as do all parents, that the best interests of the child must be paramount. Our problem is that the Russian State has not ratified the Hague Convention. If it had done so, we would not have this issue. The difficulties that are presenting as a consequence of our attempt to arrange a bilateral agreement are very complicated and affect our Constitution. That said, we will continue to work to seek to resolve them. Knowing that parents are keen to adopt, I do not want to leave people with the impression that this matter can be resolved in the shorter term. I have given a realistic timeframe in case anyone would be disadvantaged in adopting by waiting for this issue to be resolved, because that would have been grossly unfair.

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. To be fair to the parents' representatives, they acknowledged that the Minister was very frank during their meeting with him. That frankness is welcome, but the Minister still has not told me his target date for completion. There are complex issues outstanding, but it is up to officials within the Department and the Adoption Authority of Ireland to work with their Russian counterparts. The Department will not be able to iron out the difficulties if it does not engage. In that context, is it true that correspondence received in the Department from Russian officials has yet to be dealt with? If this issue is still a priority, the Minister must set down a clear target date and insist that we will have this resolved in 12 months. It will not be resolved if the Department does not engage on the issue and if the Minister does not visit Russia. As I understand it, a proposed visit to Russia was cancelled in January of last year. We must up the ante, engage with the relevant people and give these families and the children of Russia hope.

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I hear what the Deputy is saying. Mine is a small Department and we have a number of people who are skilled in this area who are engaged in a myriad of other tasks related to adoption. That is not to say that they are ignoring this issue, but they have the information and tracing Bill to deal with, which is currently in progress. Communication is taking place, as should be the case, but I will double check on that to make sure there is communication with the Russian Federation. The Deputy suggests setting timelines, but that is an impossibility when one is dealing with other people who have their own timelines. I am not saying what the Russian timelines are because I do not know, but I cannot with any degree of credibility give a timeline for resolution of this issue. We need the agreement of the Russian Federation before we can make any commitment in that regard.