Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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Question 190: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if the embassy in Moscow received an invitation to attend a meeting with the Kazak adoption authority regarding the Hague Convention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25573/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I take it that the Deputy is referring to a meeting on adoption legislation which was jointly organised by the Kazakh Ministry of Education and Science and UNICEF on Friday 11 May in Astana. We understand that the purpose of the event was to inform Embassy representatives of updates in relation to Kazakhstan's adoption legislation. Ireland did not receive such an invitation; it was not in any case in a position to be represented at the meeting for scheduling/resource reasons. The Embassy of Ireland in Moscow, which is accredited to Kazakhstan, met with an official of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 11 May and expressed Ireland's strong interest in exploring the possibilities for inter-country adoption from Kazakhstan. This is an issue which I understand the Adoption Authority of Ireland is currently examining. The Embassy representative took the opportunity to convey to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during this meeting copies of letters, with an Embassy Russian translation, which had been sent to the Ministry of Education and Science by the Adoption Authority of Ireland. The Embassy representative requested that these be forwarded to that Ministry for attention and also indicated Ireland's willingness to develop direct contacts with the Ministry of Education and Science as well as the Embassy's willingness to meet with such representatives during future visits to Astana. The representative also requested that Ireland be added to the invitation list for any future such events so that consideration of Irish participation could be considered in a timely fashion.