David Norris (Independent)

Those families should also be considered. As human beings we must ask ourselves why so many children are being given up there but not here and what we can do in the best interests of the children. I am not at all antagonistic and I understand the human feelings of people in this country who want children, but that is not sufficient. It must be the welfare of the child. I say that with the greatest respect to people who wish to adopt and I am quite sure several of them will do so.

The Minister of State, in his comments to the House, was circumspect in the way in which he dealt with it. He indicated that he was interested in the rights of the child. On reflection, every person in the House would recognise the human feelings of adults, people who have a need to have children and particularly people who believe they had been on the path of getting children but then that was very cruelly taken away from them. All this must be taken into account. However, the welfare of the children and the circumstances in which they came up for adoption is paramount.

Let us bear in mind we can all be very pious and sanctimonious here and we can all write and so on and succumb to the sometimes very civilised but sometimes very ignorant and blistering correspondence we receive from people who are desperate to have children. I do not pull my punches in writing back to the people who are ignorant to me or who tell me that my secretary will spend the rest of her life answering their e-mails or letters. No she will not and they are going straight into the bin where they belong. However, how would the House feel if in ten years' time a Government report, a statutory inquiry or an international commission were held and things emerged not to the advantage of the children? How would people feel then? They might believe we should have been cautious and circumspect. It is the case that we must respect the feelings of the prospective parents, but we must also bear in mind the welfare of the children as paramount at the end of the day.