Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of the amendment is to give preference in adoption to married mother-father couples, thus providing the child with a mother and father who are married to each other. The rationale behind that concerns the ultimate and most binding relationship commitment. Insisting that the adoptive parents be married would ensure that adoptive parents could provide the child with a stable arrangement with a mother and father who are legally committed to each other. Complementarity of both genders is important for the best development of the child. Natural human reproduction provides children with an identifiable mother and father. In adoption law, we should try to ensure that adoptees are not denied the rights other children enjoy, including the right to a mother and father. Giving preference in the first instance to married male-female couples would give adoptees the same right to a mother and father as enjoyed by children who live with their biological mother and father. Indeed, in many instances it is because the child has not got that opportunity biologically and naturally that they become available for adoption. Therefore, the State, being in loco parentisat that stage, should ensure the child is afforded an opportunity.

I am aware that a great effort is made to reduce the status of marriage and motherhood and to encourage the idea that no matter what the arrangement is, diversity should be welcomed and is all very fine. However, when we discussed this issue five years ago in respect of the civil partnership legislation, the then Minister made the point that the chairman of the Equality Authority, whom he quoted, made a statement welcoming the fact that Marriage Equality, one of the organisations involved, was undertaking a survey and that it would clearly show the benefits, or otherwise, for children in same-sex relationships. That survey was published and widely welcomed. It involved 11 young children who had been interviewed personally, in some instances with the parents present. Nobody would accept that as a scientific study. I have seen surveys and research from the United States. Much of the studies are recent and most have used such small samples that one cannot really draw any sound conclusions from them. One had 520 participants and it raised questions. I will not discuss this study because I do not know it and am not qualified to do so, but I contend we need to be careful in drawing conclusions about the effects on children of all different types of family relationships. When speaking yesterday, I gave evidence - it is well researched and well accepted - that the biggest risks to children are from the relationship of a mother who is cohabiting. In general, children in this category are at much greater risk. There is widespread evidence of that from surveys in various countries.

There is dismissal and, to some extent, an effort to close down debate on this issue. A magistrate in Britain recently expressed the opinion during an adoption case that children ideally need a father and a mother, which accords with what I am saying. The experienced magistrate, from Kent, found himself at the centre of an investigation. England's highest judge and a Cabinet Minister gave him a public scolding, telling him that his Christian views about the family were discriminatory against same-sex couples. He was banned from sitting as a magistrate until he completed a course in equality training.

This proposal is not about equality of adults. If adoption is to be about anything, it ought be about the best interest of the child. We need an open, frank and very honest debate on this, and not one that accords with a specific agenda to meet a particular ideology. I take Senator Zappone's statement that I have my own ideology on many of these issues.

I am taken with the comment made by former Minister Rory O'Hanlon when he dealt with the issue on Committee Stage in the Dáil in 1991. He said:

Everybody will accept it is generally in the best interests of children to be reared in a home where there are two parents. It is not a general thing for a single person to adopt a child, it is only in very exceptional circumstances that it will apply.

On Second Stage, I quoted the Adoption Authority. I am not sure whether I should be saying this, but I met the Minister at a private meeting and she said there was no hierarchy, although the website of the Adoption Authority clearly indicates that there is and that not all persons are treated in the same fashion. Obviously, the applicants have to be suitable and meet the criteria, which I accept, but unless there are very particular circumstances involved, sole applicants should not be considered for adoption. That is all to do with the best interest of the child. There is nothing wrong with that.

Adoption should aim to provide a child with something as close to the natural biological family as possible. It should aim to replace what the adoptee has lost, namely, his or her own mother and father. Adoption by a married man and woman would achieve that.