Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 265: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the measures that she will put in place to assist couples that are in the process of adopting children from Ethiopia and Russia; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3108/10]

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 266: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of applications for adoptions from Russia; the number of applications for adoptions from Ethiopia; when these will be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3109/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 265 and 266 together.

The Adoption Bill, 2009, 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. 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.

The issue of transitional measures for prospective parents who are at a definable stage in the adoption process when the Bill is enacted and who wish to continue to adopt a child from a non-Hague, non-bilateral country, is being examined. Prospective adoptive parents have waited a long time and it is my intention to be as flexible as possible in relation to applicants.

In relation to the Deputy's query regarding the number of applications for adoptions from Ethiopia and Russia, such information is not maintained in my Office. As this is a service matter I have forwarded this aspect of the Deputy's query to the Health Service Executive and asked that a reply issue directly to the Deputy.