Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

The amendment is not reasonable. We cannot visit on employers running small companies in competition with others, in addition to the liabilities such competition imposes, an obligation to bear the expense of an employee and his or her substitute while the employee in a year prior to adoption makes a number of visits abroad for a number of weeks each time. If we want to go down that road, the matter will have to be dealt with in social welfare legislation. With the greatest of respect, the issue has nothing to do with adoptive leave legislation.

Senator Terry and Senator McDowell asked for figures on adopters. I do not have with me figures which apply to all adoptions. The information I have is Department of Social and Family Affairs adoptive benefit statistics since 1995. Not everybody in receipt of foreign adoption benefit is covered. The number of adoptive benefit recipients were: 1995, 52; 1996, 45; 1997, 64; 1998, 88; 1999, 110; 2000, 105; 2001, 110; 2002, 215; and 2003, 183. The number has grown by a multiple of three or four since 1995. I do not believe, for the reasons I mentioned, that is the full picture.