Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit and I thank him for bringing the Bill, on behalf of thousands of parents, before the House.

The Minister of State is aware this is an emotional issue for many people. The trauma of the adoption process is extraordinary. I say that as someone who has two personal friends who have gone through the process, which, thankfully, ended in great joy. Senator O'Malley referred to children needing love. My two friends' families are now complete with love and the children are at the centre of the family. The fundamental point is that this debate is about children.

I welcome the Bill but I want to address some issues about which concern has been expressed by some of the groups I have met and some parents with whom I have spoken. The process is extraordinary. I have seen the effect on people of the paperwork and missing the opening times at the embassy. I recall on two occasions pacing up and down outside the Russian embassy waiting for officials to arrive and making sure that cheques were paid, the t's were crossed and the i's dotted. The image of my friend, Derek, pacing up and down outside the Russian embassy and being fraught with tension and worry remains with me. This is a man who wanted to adopt and bring a child back to a loving, warm home in Ireland. That waiting is replaced by the excitement of getting the approval to travel to Russia to adopt and then the joy of returning home with the child. Having witnessed the love brought to those two families and the integration, it illustrates for me the importance of this Bill and the joy of families being able to adopt. We must always keep that in mind.

It is important we have a set of standards in place and that children are at the core of this Bill because, as many speakers said, the adoption process has changed and the method of dealing with children has altered, thankfully, for the better, but some issues remain unresolved. Many Members received e-mails this morning from the International Adoption Association, IAA, and I was somewhat alarmed at the tone of the introduction in the e-mail which stated that the IAA is still preparing a summary, that this is quite a long and complex Bill and that it underestimated the effort required to digest it. Are we rushing ahead with the Bill? I ask the question based on the e-mail; it is not a criticism.

I listened with interest to the previous contributions here and on the monitor, and I found common ground with many of them. I even found commonality with Senator O'Malley's contribution, with whom I would spar a great deal. I liked Senator Walsh's story and I could associate with it, but I have a fundamental difference regarding some of his comments, which I will leave to another day in a different forum. Those of us who spoke in the debate so far have put the issue of children to the forefront. It is important that we recognise the value of children, enhance the role of family and ensure that all children who are adopted have a loving, caring home.

I agree with Senator O'Malley. We should not put in place barriers to adoption. We hear frequently about the nucleus of the family and the composition of family having changed. People said that when divorce was introduced Irish society would fall apart, but that has not happened. As Senator Walsh stated, I am aware that many single parents are raising children in warm, loving relationships. I have seen gay couples in America who are raising children in loving relationships. We have seen families torn apart by strife and children's lives being decimated as a consequence. I saw that when I was in school. In many of our communities today there are children who are victims of families that are falling apart, but that is an issue for a different debate. The fundamental point is that love, care and respect are vital and the Bill goes a long way in that regard.

I want to raise a number of issues that were raised with me by parents and groups. The first is in regard to the lack of provision in the Bill for post-placement supports and the issues of speech therapy, early intervention support and child psychological support. As we are all aware, children who have been adopted have often experienced difficult circumstances early in their lives. I will not detail the litany of those now but some of them have suffered traumatic developmental delays and that can lead to institutionalisation and so on. Early diagnosis and subsequent intervention is of absolute importance to the future well-being of the child and as educationalists we must ensure that is provided for in the Bill. I ask the Minister of State to address that in his concluding remarks.

Many speakers mentioned the age differential. No age limit or differential is specified in the Bill. I will not go into that issue other than to say I would be interested to hear the Minister of State's remarks on that because there are issues that must be addressed.

The issue of the grandfather clause has been raised by me and other speakers in the House. If the child is to be at the centre of this Bill, the issue of reuniting siblings and allowing families to adopt siblings must remain part of our focus. My cousins in America who adopted children from Russia were able to go back and reunite young children with their brothers and sisters. I would encourage the use of the grandfather clause and ask the Minister of State to have an open mind on that.

The issue of children of marriage will be a controversial one but it must be tackled in so far as children born in a marriage cannot be adopted, regardless of the current circumstances of the child. If somebody has an extramarital affair and they have a child, under the current system that child cannot be adopted. That aspect must be examined.

The question of post-adoption services must be examined also. From what I have read — the Minister can correct me if I am wrong — there is nothing in the Bill on the tracing of and reuniting with birth parents in the future, if that is desirable.

On the issue of the five standards to be measured regarding suitability, I spoke to some of the support group and parents, and there is concern that these must be upgraded. It has been widely discussed for a number of years. Why are we putting this into the Bill now? The process has not been brought to finality yet. That issue might be revisited at another stage.

In speaking about the Hague Convention we accept that it contains a minimum standard and that we are marrying Irish ways to the Hague Convention. In his summation, the Minister of State might comment on restrictions that would apply to Irish parents going abroad.

I have worries about post-adoption services, as mentioned in the Bill, or the lack thereof. There is much to be applauded in the Bill and I commend the Minister of State on the work he has done in bringing it this far. However, we must look at post-adoption services and the qualifications of those who are suitable to adopt. That latter point was mentioned today by the International Adoption Agency, IAA, and we must ask what the grounds are for qualification. We are at the early stage of the Bill but there is much food here for later discussion and analysis. It is important the Minister of State continues his consultation and that he looks at and talks to different interest groups and prepares amendments as the Bill proceeds.

At the outset, I welcome the broad thrust of the Bill and commend the Minister of State on the work he has done. Families who have adopted and brought children into Ireland open the eyes of many with the joy, love, respect and care they offer those children. It is wonderful that we can make a difference through legislation in terms of having a common set of standards. We have had a very good debate today. The bipartisanship shown augurs well for the rest of the debate. Some questions remain outstanding, however.