Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

An adopting parent for adoptive benefit includes - this would be in the definition sections and in the arrangements in respect of the Act - a man in whose care a child is placed for adoption, including a foreign adoption, where the woman in whose care the child has been, or is to be placed, has died, or a man in whose sole care a child has been placed for adoption. That is the single male to which I referred and that is in the primary legislation. I can get a more comprehensive reply for the Senator and I will write to him. I understand that in scrutinising the Bill he has identified that, but the principal Act actually defines an adopting parent and that does include a single male.

The principal Act defines an adopting parent and that does include a single male.