Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

The point about amendment No. 50 is that the Minister, in section 81, is already allowing for some exceptions which are deemed necessary. The amendment does not, for example, create a right to adopt where a person or couple have previously adopted from a non-contracting state. Rather, as I said earlier, it provides for the making of an exception where the authority deems it required or desirable having regard to a range of factors. There is already a safeguard in that the authority must be satisfied the standards applied to the adoption accord with those of the Hague Convention. Thus, it is not creating another track, a possibility about which the Minister was concerned in our earlier discussions. However, it allows for an exception in terms of what is referred to as a grandfather clause, which could be helpful to many couples. I ask the Minister to consider this amendment.