Vol. 559 No. 5
262 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason Ireland has not entered into a bilateral agreement with Vietnam on Vietnamese/Irish adoptions; the reason negotiations have not concluded; and if there is a stalemate in negotiations being carried out between the Irish Embassy in Malaysia and the Vietnamese authorities. [26273/02]
I have been advised by the Adoption Board that it wrote to the Vietnamese Minister for Justice, who has responsibility for adoption matters, in November 2001, January 2002 and again in September 2002 inquiring if it would be possible to enter into a working arrangement on adoption with Ireland and asking for confirmation on whether adoptions from Vietnam to Ireland will be suspended. Regretfully, the board has not received a response to date but I understand that Vietnam intends suspending all adoptions to countries that do not have a bilateral agreement in place on adoption as from 2 January 2003. The Adoption Board has offered, having regard to the impending restrictions, to fast-track any straightforward adoption applications that are currently on hand for Vietnam.
Due to the absence of a response from the Vietnamese authorities, I recently asked the Irish Ambassador to Vietnam to raise Ireland's interest in negotiating a bilateral agreement on adoption and to take the necessary steps to facilitate this process. In this respect, I have been advised that the Ambassador met the Vietnamese authorities on 5 December 2002 and has reported the willingness of the Vietnamese side to enter into negotiations. I have asked the Department and the Adoption Board to assist the Ambassador in the negotiation process. I intend to monitor progress in this regard and have asked my officials to keep me informed of developments.
In considering working arrangements with other countries it is essential that we are satisfied that these arrangements uphold the spirit of the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption and that all adoptions take place in the best interests of the children concerned.
