Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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256. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will outline her Department's engagements, if any, with families who have adopted children born in Mexico and who have subsequently been unable to have these adoptions recognised or registered here; and if she will report on the extent to which her Department is working with families affected to come to a resolution of their difficulties. [26365/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The responsibility for the registration of intercountry adoptions is a matter for the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI), an independent quasi judicial entity established under the Adoption Act 2010. It is a matter for the AAI to ensure that all adoptions are made in accordance with the provisions of the Adoption Act 2010. Accordingly, as Minister, it is not open to me to intervene in individual cases. The Authority has advised me that they have examined this matter comprehensively and taken legal advice in this regard. The Adoption Authority has determined that it does not have the statutory power to recognise certain adoptions of children born in Mexico or to register the adoption on the Register of Intercountry Adoptions. The matter is now the subject of legal proceedings in the High Court.