Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 224: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding persons (details supplied) in County Waterford. [23614/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The matter referred to relates the eligibility of a child for adoption as contained in Section 10(c) of the Adoption Act, 1952, as amended by Section 2 of the Adoption Act, 1964, and in particular, the possibility of the adoption of a child by a surviving parent and their new spouse. Section 10(c) as amended provides that, in order to be eligible for adoption, a child must be "illegitimate or an orphan" or be a child who has been legitimated, but whose birth has not been re-registered. Therefore, under this Act children of marriage are not eligible for adoption.

The Adoption Act, 1988, does permit the adoption of any child (including children of marriage) but only in exceptional and very limited circumstances where the parents are shown to have completely abandoned their parental duties, and there is an expectation that they will continue to do so until the child reaches the age of eighteen. After its passage through the Oireachtas, the President referred the Adoption Bill, 1988 to the Supreme Court under Article 26 of the Constitution, for a decision on whether the provisions of the Bill were repugnant to the Constitution. While it was found to be Constitutional, and subsequently became the Adoption Act, 1988, it was clear that these narrow circumstances, based on Article 42.5 of the Constitution, were the basis for the decision of the Supreme Court.

The Twenty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2007 was published in February 2007 and contained the Government's proposal to amend the Constitution in relation to children and included a provision to ensure that all children would be eligible for voluntary adoption, subject to appropriate consents. The Programme for Government of June 2007 committed to deepening consensus on the Twenty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2007 and to this end, the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children [JCCAC] was established in November, 2007, to report back within four months, on the proposals set out in the Bill. The Committee recently received Dáil and Seanad approval for an extension of their timeframe to 30th November 2008. The Committee is now progressing with its work and the Government awaits the outcome of its deliberations before proceeding further with the proposed amendment of the Constitution in relation to children.