Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I will deal first with the suggestion that we are proceeding too quickly. The Adoption Bill has been a long time in gestation. We published it five or six weeks ago after extensive consultation with the representative groups over the past few years. Since my appointment I have met the groups whenever they have requested such meetings and there is a very good relationship between them, the Office of the Minister for Children and my staff. We have afforded the representative associations all the time we can to ensure they are up to speed with what we are doing.

Some 66 amendments have been proposed. We are about an hour into the debate on Committee Stage and we are dealing with amendment No. 2 so we cannot be accused of being too quick on this. It is right that we take our time. We have had the period of consultation with the public and representative groups, and it is now a matter for the legislators. They can talk to the people who make representations to them. We are taking our time with the legislation and I do not accept that we are dealing with it too quickly.

We have made progress with Vietnam. That is due to the huge amount of work by the people in my office, the adoption authority, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the consular staff in Hanoi and the people in the Attorney General's office. A huge amount of effort has been put into it. The question is what we do after that. It must be remembered that the Vietnamese authorities have to agree to the proposal we will put to them. It is a sovereign Government and we cannot tell how long that will take. We cannot tell whether it will agree to it or what problems might arise. That is the next stage. People should be aware of that.

We are determined to proceed with trying to achieve a bilateral agreement with Russia. Again, however, the rights of the child will be central to that. We will have to be satisfied and have reassurances about the basic principles of international adoption relating to consents, ensuring there is no improper financial gain and the protection of children. Those are the central issues as well as eligibility. We will have to resolve all those issues. There is nothing to stop us proceeding with further bilateral agreements. The Vietnamese agreement has been in compliance with the Hague Convention. We have moved on, however, and we are trying to establish better standards now that we are in the process of enacting an Adoption Bill and transposing the Hague Convention in Irish law. The bilateral agreement must be upgraded to reflect these changes.

It was stated that 78% of Irish adoptions are of children from countries which have not adopted the Hague Convention or with which Ireland does not have a bilateral agreement. I am not sure what is the source of this figure but it is incorrect. I am informed that a large majority of adoptions are of children from Vietnam and that these are carried out on foot of a bilateral agreement which will expire and, I hope, be replaced at the end of April.