Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is my first time to welcome the Minister to the House in his new capacity. We both know that elements of this Adjournment motion were discussed at a committee meeting last week, but that is purely coincidental. I was not even aware of the committee's wide-ranging discussion until I read about it the following day. I was prompted to table this motion by one or two instances of parents attempting to adopt children but being caught in the limbo that has seemingly existed since the ratification of the Hague convention. It has been suggested that the convention, which was supposed to clear the way for adoptions, is actually a major obstacle.
National newspapers have published articles on this issue in recent months, one of which I will quote from in a moment to support the case calling for statements or observations from the Department concerning all that has been happening - or, more accurately, not been happening - since the convention's ratification in 2010. The heading of an article in The Irish Timesreads: "Changes to adoption law have shattered my hopes of becoming a parent." The lady in question referred to the life-changing days in her life, for example, 1 November 2010, when "the Republic finally enacted the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption". She stated: "There is very little domestic adoption here now." She continued:

Before November 2010, government agreements meant the principal countries from which Irish people could adopt children were Russia, Ethiopia and Vietnam - known, in bureaucratic jargon, as the Republic's "sending countries". Russia and Ethiopia do not comply with the convention, so they are no longer options for anyone with a declaration issued after November 2010, a "post-Hague declaration". Those countries are also now closed to people who adopted from them with pre-Hague declarations and had hoped to return to adopt another child. Lobby groups have been established for both Russia and Ethiopia, seeking bilateral agreements with the Republic, but so far they have had no success.
Bulgaria complies with the convention, and a number of Irish people have sent their applications there, but since 2010 just one Bulgarian child has been adopted from Ireland by parents with a post-Hague declaration. Nobody could call that an encouraging statistic....
There have been other intercountry adoptions here since the enactment of the Hague convention. They continued until last year for people whose declarations were issued before November 2010, as the declarations were valid for three years. There were 446 such adoptions between 2011 and 2013.
But there has been a stark change since the convention was ratified. Only 11 children have been adopted by people with post-Hague declarations: two in 2011, six in 2012, three in 2013. There have been no post-Hague adoptions so far this year. It is hard not to conclude that intercountry adoption has all but stopped here.

This issue is at the core of my question. What has happened? There seems to be a great deal of below-the-radar criticism of the Adoption Authority of Ireland and its practices, for example, referring people to a third party agency called Arc Adoption that costs prospective adopters between €15,000 and €20,000 even though many cannot afford anything of that nature. I have read that going to Bulgaria personally to pursue an adoption costs €5,000. The authority's chairman has endorsed Arc Adoption, but questions have been raised by sources close to the authority about its credibility in this matter.
Serious questions must be addressed. At the committee meeting, the various agencies associated with adoptions raised similar issues with the changes to the legislation. I am sure that, by this stage, the Minister has been well briefed on the issues and I would be grateful for his response.