Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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1270. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the average age of applicants for the adoption of children when first granted an adoption broken down by Health Service Executive region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38761/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Adoption Authority of Ireland that there is a significant difference between the average ages of domestic adopters compared to those adopting from outside the State. Since the enactment of the Adoption Act, 2010 (1 November 2010), adopters within Ireland have all been aged between 35-45 years (100%), while the majority of applicants adopting from abroad are aged between 40-51 years (73.3%). The figures show that 40.7% of people who undertake intercountry adoption are over the age of 45 years, while there are no domestic adopters in this age group. Furthermore, a small number of adopters from abroad are aged over 50 (5.4%).

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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1271. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of Section 63 Declarations under the Adoption Act 2010 which are currently active; the number of these who have received a referral of a child; the number of Section 63 Declaration holders who are renewing their declarations through the Section 40 Declaration process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38795/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The HSE advises that as of the 1st of March 2013 the number of Declarations of Eligibility and Suitability (DES) issued under Section 63 of the Act which were still to be acted upon was 370. In March the HSE wrote to these Section 63 DES holders to invite them to apply for an assessment as part of the application for a DES which would be issued under Section 40 of the Act, and 161 of these applicants applied. The Adoption Authority advises that a further 35 registrations of adoptions have been made from 1 March to 10 September 2013, with a further 4 applications to register on hand. Accordingly, there is a balance of 170 holders of Section 63 DES. While a number of applicants may no longer be interested in continuing the intercountry adoption process for a variety of reasons, a portion of these 170 outstanding DES holders may be in the process of trying to finalise adoptions. I have been advised that a very small number of applicants are currently at a late stage in the process of finalising adoptions from Russia.