Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

While it is not the Senator's intention to give the wrong impression, it would be an unintended consequence of allowing the 78% figure to hang in the ether.

On the issue of adopting siblings from countries which have not adopted the Hague Convention and do not have a bilateral agreement with Ireland, the problem, as I outlined, is that, having signed up to the standards of the convention and consulted as widely as possible before incorporating them into Irish law, we should not require the authority, even on a case-by-case basis, as suggested by Senator Alex White, to satisfy itself that all adoptions comply with Hague standards on consents and the absence of improper financial gain in a third country. Ireland, as a small country with a small regulatory authority, cannot do an investigation of these countries to a standard sufficient to ensure an adoption should be accepted. We should be resolved and determined to remain within the boundaries of the Hague Convention and such bilateral agreements as we are able to secure based on the convention's principles. These are the standards we should apply.