Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of inter-country adoptions into Ireland from each country for each of the past five years; the countries with which Ireland has a bilateral adoption agreement which meets the standards of the Hague Convention; and the expiry date of each such agreement. [6858/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Adoption Board is the body responsible for maintaining statistics on the number of intercountry adoptions into Ireland. I would refer the Deputy to the Adoption Board Annual Report 2007 for further information on this matter.

Under the recently published Adoption Bill 2009, prospective adoptive parents will be able to adopt from countries which have ratified the Hague Convention, or from those countries with which Ireland has a bilateral agreement based on Hague standards. As part of the preparations for the likely passage and entry into force of these new legislative arrangements, my Office has been liaising closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs to identify and negotiate with countries who continue to seek homes abroad for children in need of alternative care which cannot be provided domestically. We are working actively to assess the possibilities of entering into bilateral agreements with a small number of countries, including Vietnam, Ethiopia and the Russian Federation.

The only non Hague country with which Ireland currently has a bilateral agreement is Vietnam. In relation to Vietnam in particular, a new draft agreement is being finalised. Once the text of the draft has been agreed between the OMCYA, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General's office, it will be forwarded to the Vietnamese Authorities for their consideration. It is anticipated that we will be able to forward this draft to Vietnam very shortly.