Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Let us be honest, if we are going to support the introduction of higher standards, we must support the consequences of the higher standards. Some of those consequences can be uncomfortable and under previous adoption arrangements we failed to regulate mediation agencies. There were no regulations whatsoever and we wish to do so now. This will be a better scenario for everyone. I did not initiate an investigation into Helping Hands Adoption Mediation Agency. The Adoption Board is making inquiries arising from comments in the ISS report, with the support of UNICEF, which found that Helping Hands Adoption Mediation Agency claimed it had elicited some money for changing foreign currency but that the opposite should have been the case. In other words, there should have been reductions rather than increases in fees charged to prospective adoptive parents. I do not like to refer to this as an investigation because it is not of that nature but the inquiries are ongoing. Grant Thornton has carried out an audit commissioned by Helping Hands Adoption Mediation Agency and, without casting any aspersions on Grant Thornton, which is an outstanding firm with a good track record, self-auditing has its limitations. Very often, companies coming to court with rival sets of accountancy firms presenting views on each company's behalf.