Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

It is neither reasonable nor fair not to provide some leave. I may be asking for too much but there should be some recognition of the difference between adopting a child and the birth of a child to natural parents. I ask the Minister to consider this amendment before the next Stage. Perhaps we should be talking about unpaid leave.

There must be a recognition of the situation as it exists today. Does the Minister or his officials know how many children have been adopted in Ireland, the number who have been adopted by Irish parents abroad and the number of Irish adoptions? We need to get those figures so that we can see how many people are required to travel abroad to secure an adoption and how many visits that entails. To leave matters as they stand is much too restrictive and is not of benefit to adoptive parents.

Progress reported; Committee to sit again.