Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 118: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the bilateral agreement with Vietnam; if an interim agreement is being worked on; the progress on both the bilateral agreement and the interim agreement; the number of families that are still waiting for these agreements in order that their adoptions can be completed; and the length of time that the parents here and children in orphanages will have to wait. [30853/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Adoption Bill, 2009, has completed its passage through both Houses of the Oireachtas and will be enacted shortly. It is my intention to lodge the papers for the ratification of the Hague Convention following enactment of the Bill. The Convention comes into force on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the deposit of the instrument in accordance with Article 46 (2) (a).

The Government decided to suspend indefinitely negotiations on a new bilateral intercountry adoption agreement with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This will have the effect of suspending intercountry adoption from Vietnam until such time as the Adoption Bill 2009 has been enacted and Ireland and Vietnam have both ratified the provisions of the Hague Convention. This decision was taken in response to the serious findings and recommendations contained in the report on intercountry adoption commissioned by UNICEF and the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice and carried out by International Social Services (ISS). An earlier report published last August by the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) was also considered in making the decision.

It is my understanding that the Vietnamese National Assembly has recently passed legislation which should allow for a move to ratification of the Hague Convention. In the event that both Ireland and Vietnam ratify the Convention there is every reason to expect that adoptions from Vietnam could re-commence subject to the provisions of the Convention being met in this regard. At the time of ratification Ireland and Vietnam will each designate a Central Authority to discharge the duties which are imposed by the Hague Convention. Administrative arrangements will be a matter for the Adoption Authority, as Ireland's designated Central Authority, to make with the designated Vietnamese Central Authority. As both countries will have ratified the Hague Convention there will be no need for a formal bilateral agreement with regard to inter-country adoption. My Department does not have information on the number of prospective adoptive parents interested in adopting from Vietnam.