Róisín Shortall
Ceist:170 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps, if any, which have been taken as a result of discussions held between his Department's officials and officials of the Eastern Health Board to alleviate the long delays in commencing foreign adoption assessments experienced by prospective adopters in the Eastern Health Board region in comparison with prospective adopters in other health board regions; if, in practice, the Eastern Health Board deals with all applications for foreign adoption assessment in strict numerical order; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8123/98]