Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 154: To ask the Minister for Health and Children further to Parliamentary Question No. 203 of 6 May 2009, if there has been further progress in resolving the issue of inter-country adoption with Vietnam; if she remains committed to her Minister of State for Children travelling to Vietnam to resolve and conclude a further bilateral agreement; and when this will occur. [21744/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My office is working to create the appropriate legislative, policy and administrative frameworks that will ensure a well regulated regime of adoption. Our aim is to support and protect the children for whom adoption services are devised and provided as well as prospective parents.

The Government is working towards securing a strengthened agreement with Vietnam. In light of concerns raised by other countries and which emerged during 2008, the Government decided that it was necessary to seek a strengthening of the existing agreement with Vietnam. With the publication of the Adoption Bill, 2009, it was also considered necessary to ensure that both the content of a new agreement and its implementation would meet the minimum standards set out in that Bill and under the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption.

There has been on-going dialogue with the Vietnamese authorities, with the focus on achieving the requisite strengthening of procedures for the protection of children. All options, including an interim agreement, are actively being pursued to allow for the conclusion of discussions on a strengthened bi-lateral agreement and to facilitate continuity of the strong and positive relationship between both jurisdictions.

I am anxious to conclude discussions on the text of the bi-lateral agreement already under consideration. However, that is not to say that any guarantee can be provided in relation to the outcome of that process. In addition, it must be pointed out that the wider policy agenda priority is the enactment of the Adoption Bill and subsequent ratification of the Hague Convention. The agreement must have regard to this forthcoming change in adoption legislation.

I do not wish to speculate on the timeframe for or the outcome of these negotiations. There has been a high level of engagement on both sides and it is clear from progress so far that there is a willingness on both sides to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion.

The need for a further visit will be guided by the developments in the coming days and weeks. I am committed to travelling to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at any time to facilitate the successful conclusion of these discussions, as and when appropriate.

Overall, it must be acknowledged that another sovereign government is party to all negotiations on inter-country adoptions and, consequently, it would be unwise and inappropriate to attempt to air the issues or negotiate these very sensitive matters in the public domain. This may, in fact, jeopardise the prospects of concluding any new agreements. For that reason, further details on negotiations are not being made available at this time. Furthermore, it is also the case that speculation on either the nature of the issues or the degree of progress being made is unhelpful and indeed may prove misleading and distressing to those applicants who are currently waiting to adopt.