asked the Minister for Health if he will introduce legislation as a matter of urgency to permit the adoption of legitimate children; and when legislation will be introduced.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Adoption of Legitimate Children.
11.
This is one of the matters being considered by the review committee which I established recently to examine the present standards, practices and laws in regard to adoption and to make recommendations for any changes regarded as desirable. At this stage I am not in a position to say when new adoption legislation will be introduced.
In the light of the statistics the Minister has given, and in the light of a previous statistic of 589 legitimate children in long term foster care, would the Minister not agree it would be more satisfactory if the option of adoption were available to these children? Would the Minister not agree that this matter should be dealt with in the forthcoming Children's Bill, irrespective of what other matters have to be dealt with as a result of the report produced by the Working Party on Adoption?
I have a strong personal view, as the Deputy has, that socalled legitimate children should have the happiness of having the prospect of adoption being open to them. That matter is being examined by the review committee which we have established. In the event that they bring forward proposals, they will feature in the Children's Bill or in separate new adoption legislation. I would prefer to have them in the Children's Bill.
I accept the Minister's goodwill. I ask him to ensure that this matter is dealt with in the Children's Bill in the light of the fact that it is dealt with in detail in the Task Force on Child Care Minority Report in which anything which could be said about this issue is said. Would the Minister not accept that, in the light of the detailed examination of the social and legal issues involved in making the prospect of adoption available to legitimate children in the report produced by the task force, it should be dealt with in the Children's Bill? Will the Minister examine that aspect of it?
I would prefer that.
Can the Minister say when he expects the Review Committee on Adoption to report to him?
At their first meeting they were given a time limit of not more than six months. They will stick to that if I know their chairman, Dr. Joe Robins.