I move amendment No. 1:—
In page 5, Section 11, line 20 to insert "or has been ordinarily resident in the State during the five years preceding the date of the application" after "citizen".
Adoption Bill, 1952—Report and Fifth Stages.
Mr. O'Higgins
I take it that the purpose of the amendment is to meet points that were raised on the Committee Stage discussions?
Mr. Boland
Yes. Under the section as it stands, only an Irish citizen could apply for an adoption order. The purpose of the amendment is to enable a person, other than an Irish citizen, to apply if he has been resident here for five years. I undertook to consider this matter.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr. Boland
I move amendment No. 2:—
In page 5, Section 12, to delete lines 31 to 34 and to insert before sub-section (3), line 25, a new sub-section as follows:—
(3) The board may, having regard to the special circumstances of a particular case, make an adoption order although the persons referred to in sub-section (2) are not all of the same religion, provided that each of them is a member of one of the following religious denominations, namely, the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Methodist Church in Ireland and the Religious Society of Friends in Ireland.
This is an agreed amendment. The people concerned have agreed to this form.
Mr. O'Higgins
On this amendment, I wonder has the Minister considered the discussion which arose on amendment No. 11 in Committee in relation to the possibility of either of the persons referred to and the child not having a religion. I know that there is a presumption with regard to the religion dealt with in the Bill, but has there been any further consideration of this other than the proposal contained in this amendment? The Minister will recollect that he told the House that he had had certain advice and discussions with regard to this matter. Is it agreed that, in relation to members of the Catholic religion, it is desirable that all should be of that religion except in the cases dealt with in the amendment?
Mr. Boland
When discussing this on the Committee Stage, I think I said something in error. I said that where the religion of the child was unknown that the child would be taken to be a Catholic. I was not right in saying that. The position will be that the child will have been brought up by somebody, and, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, the child will be taken as being brought up in the religion of the person taking care of him. That is understood to be the view that will be taken by the board. As I have said, I was wrong in stating what I did say in Committee. The board will have regard to the religion of the person who has had charge of the child.
That was in the Private Member's Bill.
Mr. Boland
We are not providing for that. We are leaving it to the board.
Mr. O'Higgins
Would the Minister not think it would be wise to provide that in the Bill?
Mr. Boland
We discussed it, and we were satisfied that it is all right. We know that the Bill is an experiment, and we hope that it will work all right. If not, it may need amendment. We considered every point that was raised very fully and did the best we could.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr. Boland
I move amendment No. 3:—
In page 6, Section 15, line 17, to insert "of the consent and" before "of".
Under the sub-section, as it stands, the board would have to satisfy itself that a mother who gave her consent understood that an adoption Order would deprive her of all her rights in respect of the child. The effect of the amendment is to place on the board the specific duty of ensuring that the mother understands that it is to an adoption Order and not merely to an informal and temporary arrangement she is giving her consent. I think that is satisfactory.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr. Boland
I move amendment No. 4:—
In page 7, Section 19, line 14, to delete "took the child under his care and adopted him as his own" and substitute "has had the child under his care from a date".
This amendment is intended to ensure that the foster-parents of a boardedout child can adopt it now even though the child is over seven provided the child has been in their care since before he was seven. Some Deputies expressed the view that the existing provision would not admit its adoption in such cases because the foster-mother could not be said to have adopted a child as her own when she took charge of him. The purpose of the amendment is to make the position clear.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr. Boland
I move amendment No. 5:—
In page 7, Section 19, to delete lines 19 to 21 and substitute the following sub-section:—
(3) If the child has been living with the applicant for at least three years and the board is satisfied that the child's mother consented to his adopting the child as his own, the board may dispense with her consent under Section 14.
On the Committee Stage I undertook to introduce this amendment. It relates to the board's power to dispense with the consent where the child has been living with the applicants for a number of years. The amendment reduces the number of years from five to three.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr. Boland
I move amendment No. 6:—
In page 8, Section 25, line 39, to insert "in a case in which the adopter (or, where the adoption is by a married couple, the husband) is an Irish citizen", before "the".
This amendment is consequential on amendment No. 1. If the adopter is not an Irish citizen, the adoption should not, of course, confer citizenship on the child.
Amendment agreed to.
Question—"That the Bill, as amended, be received for final consideration"—put and agreed to.
Question—"That the Bill do now pass"—put and agreed to.
Ordered: That the Bill be sent to the Seanad.