Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 600: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, further to Parliamentary Question No. 82 of 14 February 2012 in which she acknowledges that a report in respect of 2009 and the period up to the end of October 2010 when the former Adoption Board was replaced by the Adoption Authority of Ireland is not yet available, if she will explain the reason the report was not prepared to cover this 22-month period. [15818/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The issue raised by the Deputy is a matter of concern and my Department has previously raised the matter with the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI). I can assure the Deputy that the issue is receiving priority attention and I expect to receive the report, which I understand is at a very advanced stage of preparation, very shortly. The delay in preparing the final Annual Report of the Adoption Board has arisen owing to the significant workload being managed by the Authority as a consequence of the transition to a new agency and owing to the need to develop new procedures to reflect the requirements of the Adoption Act, 2010.

As I informed the Deputy previously, Section 117 of the Adoption Act, 2010 provides that the Authority shall prepare and adopt an annual report in relation to the performance of the Authority's functions during the preceding year. The first annual report of the Authority, which will cover the period from its inception to the end of 2011, is therefore due to be presented before the end of June 2012.