I thank the Deputies who have been waiting to raise matters on the Adjournment for their patience. Deputy Alan Shatter has been given permission to raise on the Adjournment the position of Romanian children and other foreign children adopted outside Ireland by Irish couples, and the subject matter of a recent question.
Adjournment Debate. - Adoption of Foreign Children.
In the last five years there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of adoption orders made by the Adoption Board. For over 20 years, over 1,000 children each year were adopted through the Adoption Acts in this country. There has been a seed change in this to the extent that in 1988 only 649 adoption orders were made and in 1989, 615 adoption orders were made. In the context of the 1988-89 figures one-third of the adoption orders made were made in favour of relations of the child adopted — for example, a natural mother jointly adopting her own child with her husband. This, in practice, has meant that during each of the last two years no more than 400 childless couples each year have been able to adopt. The number of adoption orders we made in favour of childless couples in the year 1990, I would estimate, is probably in the region of 375. That has meant that couples in Ireland who wish to adopt are looking to the possibility of adopting abroad.
In recent years some couples have adopted children in South American countries, India and elsewhere. A dramatic example of the search made by young Irish couples to adopt was seen this year when in a period of ten months over 50 Irish couples made their way to Romania to adopt children. It is my belief that every week at least one or two couples make the trip to Romania. There is a major problem in this area, that we have no laws which set out the legal position of children adopted abroad. Children adopted in Romania by Irish couples going through the proper Romanian legal system come home to Ireland but under Irish law they are not regarded as having been properly adopted or as having any relationship to their adoptive parents and they have none of the inheritance rights which children adopted under Irish law would have.
Major practical problems will arise in a number of areas, one of which was brought to the attention of the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Question No. 39 yesterday when I asked him what arrangements would be made to ensure that Irish passports would be made available to the 50 or so Romanian children adopted so far. The response I got from the Minister could best be described as a piece of bureaucratic gobbledegook which ensures that the children adopted from Romania will be locked into a sort of legal limbo or legal twilight zone. Indeed I received no assurances that this issue would be properly tackled when I asked the Taoiseach yesterday if the Government would implement the Law Reform Commission's recommendations of June 1989 on the recognition of Romanian adoption orders.
The reply on the issue of passports was that if a couple come back from Romania with a child they have adopted in that country, the child can seek Irish naturalisation and, under certain conditions, the Department of Justice will make that child an Irish citizen. The reply did not say what the conditions were. It went on to say that even if the child was made an Irish citizen, a passport would not be issued without the consent of the child's parents, the child's guardians under Irish law. That means that in effect none of these children will be able to get Irish passports until they attain the age of 18 years because under Irish law the parents who have adopted them in Romania are not regarded as parents or as guardians of their children.
The reason I raise this matter today is to ask the Government to take immediate action to tackle this problem. I would ask them to implement the report of the Law Reform Commission, which provides that legislation should be enacted to give recognition to foreign adoption orders. I would ask that the Minister for Health be given power to designate the countries whose adoption orders we recognise. I would ask that new legislation retrospectively recognise and give validity to adoption orders obtained by all Irish couples up to the time of its enactment, under the proper judicial system of foreign countries. There is a need for the Department of Foreign Affairs to make special provision to ensure that parents who have gone to Romania to adopt young children do not experience difficulties in obtaining passports for the children they have brought home to Ireland, whom they regard as part of their family and are giving a home to in Ireland.
Finally, there is another need in the context of adopting abroad. When you go through a proper legal system abroad, be it in Romania, South America or anywhere else, the foreign courts require social worker assessments of the parents. Health boards currently are not co-operating with Irish couples providing such social assessment reports. I would ask the Minister for Health to direct health boards to provide such reports.
Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to raise this matter. In one final sentence I would say that this problem will not be resolved if it remains a matter that has to go through the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Justice and the Department of Health. The current unco-ordinated approach to this issue means nothing will be done. A single Minister should be given the responsibility for implementing the action programme in this area.
I would advise the House that the Chair will be a little more suspicious in future about the word "finally". Time is not on our side and we must confine ourselves precisely to the requirements of the new regulations.
I would like to thank Deputy Shatter for having raised this very important matter.
The Deputy asked a parliamentary question this week regarding the grant of passports to children adopted by Irish parents in Romania. As the Deputy is aware Irish passport facilities are granted only to Irish citizens. All applicants are required to produce evidence of such citizenship. Usually this is in the form of an Irish birth certificate. In addition in the case of minors, that is children under 18 years of age, the Passport Office requires that written witnessed evidence of the parents or legal guardians consent is produced. In some cases a court order may exist relating to the legal custody of the child. In such cases the requirements for consent are modified to meet the terms of the order.
In the case of adopted minors the situation is more complicated. The Irish citizenship of minors adopted under the Irish Adoption Act of 1952 by Irish parents, is governed by the terms of section II of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956. This section bestows citizenship automatically on such children. Applications for passport facilities on behalf of such minors should be accompanied by a copy of the relevant adoption order. The written witnessed consent of the persons nominated as guardians in the order is acceptable.
In the case of minors who are adopted under non-Irish law, into which category the children adopted in Romania fall, they must also meet our requirements. On the issue of citizenship the only way in which such children can become Irish citizens is via the naturalisation process laid down in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts, 1956 and 1986. As Deputies are probably aware the Minister for Justice has sole responsibility for the administration of the relevant section of these Acts. I understand that he is prepared to consider applications for citizenship via naturalisation for such minors subject to certain conditions. I would suggest that the Deputy might pursue any inquiries which he may have in this context with my colleague, the Minister for Justice.
Of course, a certificate of naturalisation granted by the Minister for Justice establishes the Irish citizenship of the holder and is acceptable by the Passport Office for its requirements under this heading.
Applications in respect of minors who are adopted under non-Irish law must satisfy our requirements for the written witnessed consent of the child's legal guardians. In the case of children adopted in Romania, or indeed anywhere outside Ireland, such consent can only be accepted from persons whose legal status as guardian is recognised under Irish law. The Passport Office would, of course, be guided in such matters by the current law on the subject.
As indicated in the answer to the parliamentary question no application for passport facilites in respect of children adopted in Romania have so far been received and hence no passport facilities have been extended in respect of such children. I will bear in mind Deputy Shatter's comments on this matter.