Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Prendergast. This legislation is standard-setting and with respect to Russia, it is clear the Government will have learned a great deal from the Vietnamese experience. If the Government is successful, this will have been the first time a bilateral agreement will have been concluded under the terms of the new Adoption Bill and the new standards it has set for itself. At the outset of this standard-setting regime, I do not propose to dilute those standards by permitting a parallel system of adoption outside of that process. I again undertake to pursue a bilateral agreement with Russia as soon as the other process is completed.

I hope people understand the Government is committed to adoption. While there are those who theorise that international adoption is not a proper child protection measure and that there should be concentration solely on supports for families in countries of origin, the Government is committed to the concept that international adoption will take place because there is such a strong tradition in this regard in Ireland. Moreover, we have assurances about our relationships and have minimum standards. The Government was able to assure itself in this regard as recently as November 2008, which grounded its decision in December to pursue a bilateral agreement with Vietnam, despite issues that had arisen that had caused other countries to withdraw from that country. Ireland has a unique set of circumstances that allows it to move forward. However, issues remain between the countries that unfortunately have not been resolved to date.

Amendment put.