Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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127. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide an update on the Irish Russian bilateral agreement on inter-country adoption. [20872/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Efforts are ongoing in my Department in relation to a bilateral agreement on intercountry adoption between Ireland and the Russian Federation. A delegation of Russian officials travelled to Ireland in October 2013 for further discussions on a bilateral agreement on intercountry adoption between Ireland and the Russian Federation. The meeting was very positive and detailed discussions took place between the Russian officials and officials from my Department, the Adoption Authority of Ireland, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Health Service Executive. In order to explore the potential for agreement of specific areas addressed in the discussions my Department subsequently undertook work on revised draft wording which was forwarded to the Russian Authorities in February of this year. In transmitting these revisions it was suggested that should these revisions be acceptable to the Russian Federation, it would be useful for both sides to meet again for further discussions.

The Ministry of Education and Science have advised the Irish Embassy in Moscow that all proposed adoption agreements are currently on hold while the Russian Government considers proposals in relation to how they deal with adoption agreements in general. It is understood that the Supreme Court recently made recommendations regarding adoption agreements and these are currently being considered by the Russian Government. It is hoped that following the Russian Government's consideration of these matters they will be in a position to examine and respond to the Irish proposals.