Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 9 Jun 1998

Vol. 492 No. 1

Written Answers. - Foreign Adoptions.

Noel Ahern

Question:

122 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Health and Children whether he has communicated to the Department of Finance a recommendation that the next Finance Bill should put the taxation of an inheritance received from parents by a child with a simple Paraguayan adoption on the same footing as the taxation of any inheritance received from parents by a child whose adoption abroad has been entered in the Irish Register of Foreign Adoptions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13348/98]

Noel Ahern

Question:

126 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps, if any, he has taken to make available the special travel document prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs to parents of children whose simple Paraguayan adoptions are unrecognised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13352/98]

Noel Ahern

Question:

127 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Health and Children the source of the quotation on the subject of the naturalisation of children with simple adoptions from other countries read into the record of Seanad Éireann on 13 March 1998; if he will publish this source document or statement if it has not already been published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13353/98]

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. Fahey)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 122, 126 and 127 together.

I met representatives of the parents who effected "ordinary" adoptions in Paraguay on Wednesday, 3 June to discuss the problems encountered by the families due to the non-recognition of such adoptions in Ireland and possible mechanisms to have the adoptions recognised. It is my understanding that the parents are considering taking steps to have their adoptions converted into full adoptions in Paraguay under the new Paraguayan adoption law. If this approach proves unsuccessful, I will return to the matter in the Bill to ratify the Hague Convention on the protection of children and co-operation in respect of intercountry adoption and explore whether means can be found to recognise the adoptions in that Bill.

During the course of meeting the parents' representatives raised the issue of the insertion of a provision in the next Finance Bill to provide that children adopted under "ordinary" Paraguayan adoptions are accorded the same status with regard to capital acquisitions tax as children adopted under the Adoption Acts, or adopted under a foreign adoption which qualifies for entry in the Register of Foreign Adoptions. I agreed to raise the matter with the Department of Finance and I have done this.

The travel document referred to by the Deputy is available from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It is issued in circumstances where the families are not able to obtain or renew Paraguayan passports for their children. As the children are Paraguayan citizens, the visa requirements of other countries for such persons must be adhered to by the families concerned whether they travel on a Paraguayan passport or using the document issued by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

The reference to the naturalisation of children adopted by means of simple adoptions is from a note from the then Department of Justice to my Department prepared in the context of the interdepartmental committee on Paraguayan adoptions. I do not intend to publish the note.