Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Question 48: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the action she has taken to date and the action she plans to take in order to address the difficulties that prospective parents currently engaged in the international adoption process are encountering with the Adoption Authority of Ireland due to both the level of applications received by the authority and the fact that the board of the AAI sits only every second week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15132/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Adoption Act, 2010, which was commenced on 1st November 2010, coincided with Ireland's formal ratification of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The purpose of the Adoption Act, 2010, is to improve standards in both domestic and intercountry adoption.

The Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) is an independent statutory body charged with implementing the Adoption Act, 2010. The Authority has responsibility for the direct operational implementation of legislation and Government policy. It has a quasi-judicial role and is independent in its decision-making functions. In this regard the Authority's functions encompass a wide range of responsibilities including:

the issuing of declarations of eligibility and suitability to adopt under Section 40 of the Act, following the examination of all relevant supporting materials;

the issuing of transitional declarations of eligibility and suitability to adopt, under Section 63 of the Act, to applicants who had initiated the adoption process under previous legislation whose adoption was not effected but still in progress on the day of commencement of the new Act;

the recognition of intercountry adoptions effected outside the State, having regard to the circumstances pertaining in each individual case, under Section 57 of the Act;

the conversion and recognition of certain Hague Convention adoptions that do not have the effect of terminating a pre-existing legal parent-child relationship under Section 68 and 69 of the Act.

In addition to the above the Authority has responsibility for the management of the various stages of the intercountry adoption process including the forwarding of applicant adoption packs under Article 15 of the Hague Convention, the receipt of the proposed match under Article 16 and the approval of the match under Article 17 (which provides that a child may be placed with the prospective adoptive parents). The issuing of an Article 23 certificate by the country of origin is the confirmation process between contracting States that the adoption has been made in accordance with the Hague convention. The AAI has no role in this process but relies on the certificate as part of the recognition process under Hague.

In considering matters relating to intercountry adoption the Authority must satisfy itself that the adoption complies with the terms and conditions of the 1993 Hague Convention, which is a co-operative agreement drawn up to allow countries to mutually support one another in protecting the best interests of children in the intercountry adoption process. It is designed in such a way as to allow for mirrored mechanisms and structures to mutually assure countries of the safety and standard of intercountry adoptions in those countries. The AAI has been extremely proactive in developing relationships with their counterparts around the world and this will continue. The building of such relationships will help to bring greater clarity to the intercountry adoption process generally, including the timescales involved for adopting from different countries.

It is a matter for the Authority to determine how best to structure its operations to perform its functions. The Adoption Act, 2010, states that the "Authority shall hold as many meetings as are necessary for performing its functions but shall hold at least 12 meetings a year." The Board currently meets fortnightly. This meeting schedule place an onerous workload on the Board members of the AAI and the Board meets more frequently than almost any other State Board.

My Department is currently reviewing the staffing levels of the AAI in the context of the Employment Control Framework for the public sector and the recent public service retirements. A new CEO has recently been appointed to the Authority and this appointment is key to progressing very important issues regarding the overall resourcing of the Authority. It should be noted in this context that the AAI has been allocated €3.3m in State funding this year in recognition of the new responsibilities set out in the Adoption Act, 2010. This is an increase of some 35% of the level of funding provided in 2011.