Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 182: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will clarify the concerns of persons (details supplied) in County Waterford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39505/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Adoption Bill, 2009, which is designed to give force of law to the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption, has passed through the Seanad and is scheduled to be debated in Dáil Éireann in the current Dáil session. The new legislation, which incorporates the provisions of the Hague Convention, is designed to provide a framework to ensure that appropriate procedures have been followed and that all adoptions are effected in the best interests of the child. Future inter-country adoption arrangements will be governed by the terms of the Adoption Bill 2009 when enacted.

The current policy position, as set out in the Adoption Bill 2009, is that for an adoption to be registered under the Bill it must be effected in a contracting State to the Hague Convention or in a country with which Ireland has a bilateral agreement. For non-Hague countries only those adoptions effected prior to the commencement of the new law can be registered on the Register of Inter-Country Adoptions to be established under the Bill.

There are transitional provisions contained in the Bill. However, the issue of further transitional measures for prospective parents who are at an advanced stage when the Bill is enacted, and who wish to continue with an adoption from a non-Hague, non-bilateral country, have been raised with me by representative groups. I am currently examining this and other related matters.

My officials, in consultation with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, have been doing preparatory work on a possible bilateral agreement with Ethiopia. Consideration of this is at an early stage.