Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I am grateful for the Minister's response. It is useful to remind ourselves that the rights of the child, not the parents, must always be paramount. The Minister is to be commended on the progress that has been made with Vietnam. However, I share the concerns of other Senators. It is a concern that some other countries in the EU have broken the link with Vietnam.

The valid questions that have been raised by Senators about this illustrate the difficulty with the current arrangement, a difficulty that will continue under this Bill when enacted. Senator Fitzgerald has put down a useful amendment, No. 49, which would resolve some of these problems in a pre-emptive or proactive way by requiring that prior to the expiration of any existing bilateral agreements, the Minister concerned would indicate whether that bilateral agreement was likely to be renewed and would give reports to the Houses of the Oireachtas on the progress being made. Does the Minister think that would be helpful? It would mean that even if only a twin-track approach is taken, in other words, an inter-country adoption can only be carried out with a state that is party to the Hague Convention or to a bilateral agreement — I can understand why the Minister does not wish to dilute that principle — there would be a little more certainty about the status of bilateral agreements or future bilateral agreements with countries with which we have long-standing relationships and from which a large number of children are already adopted and resident in families in Ireland.