Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State, and I congratulate him and his officials on the work they have put into this Bill. Anyone who had the opportunity to listen to Eamon Dunphy on the radio last Saturday morning would have heard an interview with a very interesting individual. Dr. Paul Mooney is the president of the National College of Ireland, and he told me a wonderful story of how he adopted three children, the first of whom was adopted 18 years ago. Her name is Amy and she was adopted in Taiwan. He wrote a book, Amy, about that experience. I suggest that everyone read the book as it contains a very interesting story and is a reminder of the difficulty of adopting, especially from outside the State.

This Bill is welcome as it puts the interests of the child first. This will address the issue of inter-country adoptions which currently are subject to different standards than those of domestic adoptions. It is correct that all children adopted by parents in Ireland must be subject the same set of standards. In essence, the Bill reflects the fact that adoption has changed greatly since it was legalised in the Adoption Act 1952.

Once the Bill becomes law, it will be possible to adopt children only from countries that have ratified the Hague Convention or countries with which Ireland has a bilateral agreement. This means that Irish parents will not be able to adopt from countries such as Russia and Ethiopia unless an agreement is reached. How great is the possibility that bilateral agreements will be made in the near future with countries such as Vietnam, Ethiopia and Russia?

A total of 229 domestic family adoption applications were received by the Adoption Board last year. These were mostly in cases where the natural mother had a child outside marriage and later married a man who was not the natural father. The natural mother and her husband applied jointly to adopt the children and the couple took on joint legal rights and responsibilities. The Adoption Board acknowledges that the procedure is not always ideal in step-parent families. The Adoption Board's annual report states that it "considers that some other legal means should be devised to establish the rights and responsibilities of a natural mother's husband without extinguishing the rights and responsibilities of the natural father". This Bill provides the ideal opportunity to strengthen these rights for the stepfather and I believe it would be an oversight not to recognise this relationship in the Bill.

It is of great importance that adopted children are able to get access to the medical records of their biological parents or, where that is not possible, that they be kept on the files of the Health Service Executive. For example, I know of a specific case where an adopted child had a particular illness which was very difficult to diagnose. He met his birth mother many years later and it turned out that he inherited his illness from his father. A vital amendment to the Bill would be a provision to allow the adopted child access to medical records in the case of hereditary diseases. It would be possibly life-saving information. The person's anonymity would remain intact as no other information would be given out. I urge the Minister of State to include this provision in the Bill. I am not sure how this could be done, but if the individual in my example had known of his hereditary illness much earlier in life, he could have taken steps to overcome it much earlier as well.

The Bill does not impose an upper age limit, which means that many couples will still not know whether they can apply for adoption. Without a defined upper age limit, couples wishing to adopt are left unclear about whether they qualify, leading to some being rejected while others of the same age are allowed to adopt. I do not know the answer and I would hate to put a limit on the age of the parents because they could be the perfect parents. The Bill provides a clear opportunity to set down an age limit which will help to clear up any confusion and inevitable disappointment for couples. On the other hand, perhaps it is better to leave it up to the authorities to decide themselves.

A few years ago a couple approached me in one of my supermarkets and asked me what champagne they should buy. I got talking to them and discovered that the gentleman had been looking for his birth mother all his life. He had never been able to trace her so he took three days off to try to find her. She was not living in Ireland. When he contacted her by telephone, he asked her if a particular date meant anything to her. He gave the date of his birth. He said that she was quite emotional when she heard the date. When she asked him who he was, he said that he was born in a certain hospital in Ireland on that date. She had been looking for him for many years. She had wondered whether she could find him. He had been looking for her as well. She was coming to Ireland that afternoon. They were going to the airport to meet her. That is why they wanted champagne. It was an emotional experience for me. I remember taking great pleasure in giving them the champagne. I was reminded of the trauma people go through in their lives. I am aware that the Minister of State has attempted to cover this in the Bill before the House.

According to the most recent annual report of the Adoption Authority of Ireland, at the end of 2007 almost 7,000 people were registered on its information and tracing service, which aims to reunite adopted people. The report points out that:

The Register gives adopted people and their natural families an opportunity to confidentially state their preferences on the extent and type of contact they wish to have ... In particular, the Register has given natural fathers and other natural relatives of the adopted person a recognition that many felt they did not previously have.

Some 297 matches between parents and adult children have been made since the authority was established in 1952. It is clear that this is an emotional matter. The authority's report noted that older natural mothers have been reluctant to add their names to the register. We all have experience of that. I am aware of such a case. If one gave one's child up for adoption 20, 30 or 40 years ago, one might find it traumatic to be reminded of what one went through. Future publicity campaigns could make a greater effort to persuade such people to add their names to the register. At the same time, we must be careful to maintain confidentiality as many people might not want their names to be known.

I would like to reflect briefly on two points that have already been made. I refer first to the need for a grandfather clause to allow the relatives of children to adopt them. I hope it will be possible to achieve that. I know it is on the agenda, but I am not quite sure how it will be achieved. Second, we need to take steps to reduce the amount of time it takes to adopt a child. I accept that it is important to be careful in this regard. However, it seems to me that there must be some way of speeding up the process, especially in cases in which it is fairly clear that there is no problem, so that it does not take very long. I admit that I do not have much experience of these matters. In the past, people who have wanted to adopt have not been able to do so.

Senator Walsh and others spoke about different religions. Approximately 32 years ago, I knew of a Protestant man and his Catholic wife who were finding it difficult to adopt a child in Ireland. At that time, most birth parents left instructions to the effect that they wanted their children to be brought up with one religion or another. We managed to introduce the couple in question to a person who was involved in these matters. He knew of a case in which the birth parents had left no instructions. The couple adopted a girl who is now a wonderfully successful woman. Many things can be achieved. People who have no chance of having children experience great joy when they are able to adopt.

The Minister of State and his officials have done a great deal of work in this area. It is important for us to take our time with this legislation so that we get it right. This work will be well worthwhile when it leads to great rewards for so many families, children and adoptive parents. I congratulate the Minister of State on the steps he is taking at this stage. As we consider the Bill on its next Stages, we need to ensure we improve it. If there are any flaws in it, we need to find ways of making it better. If we do so, it will have worthwhile benefits for many people.