Government misses opportunity to address barriers to adoption – McConalogue
Published on: 30 January 2012
Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Children Charlie McConalogue has welcomed indications from the Government that they are finally taking steps to improve the adoption rights of children born to married parents. Deputy McConalogue has said the hundreds of children affected should not have been forced to wait until the Government gets around to holding a Referendum on Children’s Rights for this to be addressed.
Fianna Fáil published legislation seven months ago to remove the barriers to adoption for children born to married parents. The Fianna Fáil Bill, which was debated in the Dáil on 28 June 2011, would have allowed the Government to hold a Referendum alongside the Presidential election last October to immediately allow for the adoption of hundreds of children who are currently in care.
Deputy McConalogue commented, “I am relieved to see that the Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald now recognises the need to take specific action to address the anomaly in relation to adoption rights for children of married parents. This is something that she and her Government could have done months ago. There was no need to wait until the wider Children’s Referendum to address this problem. Fianna Fáil published legislation last summer that enjoyed widespread support and could have immediately resolved this non-contentious issue.
“It was always planned that the anomalies with adoption rights would be addressed alongside the overall Referendum on Children’s Rights, so there is nothing new in what Minister Fitzgerald is saying now. The real pity is the fact that she missed the opportunity to tackle this issue months ago. Despite all their promises to hold a Referendum on Children’s Rights in 2011, Fine Gael and Labour have continually kicked the issue down the road. While this Government’s continues to procrastinate on the overall Referendum, Fianna Fáil constructively proposed a simple step to radically improve the lives of hundreds of children who are in long-term care without the right to be adopted.
“The Fianna Fáil Bill was accepted by the Government at second stage, but they refused to allow it to proceed to committee stage in the Dáil. I am appealing to Minister Fitzgerald to take another look at the Fianna Fáil adoption bill. This could help speed up the process for these children, who have already waited far too long for a simple step that could transform their lives,” said Deputy McConalogue.