Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As has been said, the determining factor in making an adoption order is what is in the best interests of the child. No one has a right to adopt under Irish law, and after this legislation passes, no one will have a right to adopt. All any adults will have, be they single or as a couple, is the opportunity to apply. It is then up to the authorities to weigh up all the different factors and decide what is in the best interests of the child. In some circumstances, that will be for the child to be adopted by a married heterosexual couple where everything else is taken into account. In others, it will manifestly be in the best interests of the child to be adopted by the same-sex couple who have been fostering the child for a long time and have a connection with the child. This will clearly be in the best interests of the child from a continuity of care point of view. All these issues have to be looked at in the round.

Reference has been made to restricting rights to married couples only rather than to cohabitees, civil partners or others. The House of Lords considered this issue in reP and decided that restrictions on cohabiting couples fall foul of the European Convention on Human Rights. That is an issue we have to take into account in legislating in this area. The most important aspect overall is the child's best interests. Unfortunately, in some adoption cases, if there is a difficult environment, the parents' view should be taken into account but perhaps should not be determining if child experts and others have a different view on what is in the best interests of the child. The most important thing is what is right for the child and that he or she is brought up in a loving and supportive home. On an adoption issue such as this, I ask people to strip out all the ideologies and prejudice against particular types of families. We should be led by only one thing, that is, what is best for that individual child in those circumstances. It will never be the case that, all things being equal, married family trumps everyone else. Life is not that simple; it is not that black and white; it is not a tick-box list of criteria. It is a complex situation in terms of deciding who should who should not adopt. We should leave that decision with people who, knowing all the facts of the individual case, are in a position to make a determination on what will give the child the best second chance in life and a second family.