David Norris (Independent)

I join in congratulating my colleague, Senator Ross. I was unsure about going to the dinner this evening but I now think I must go to enjoy his success.

I support the comments of colleagues on the issue of Tristan Dowse. This is a regrettable situation as it is terrible to think an Irish citizen child should be tied up in legal red tape. There are anomalies the House should address. Will the Leader ask the Minister to examine these anomalies? For example, the Adoption Board does not analyse the actual material of the foreign adoption but the equivalent and does not examine the circumstances or the legal details.

Another anomalous situation is that foreign and inter-country adoptions can be neutralised or reneged upon whereas Irish adoptions cannot. Ireland signed the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption in 1993 but the Government has failed to ratify it, leading to some of these anomalies. We are entitled to know when this important international instrument will be ratified. It places at the centre of the issue the best interests of the child and not the human feelings of infertile parents with a desire for children, which should be paramount in all matters of adoption.