mr president in ireland the motto of the international adoption association is that families are made in many ways
the debate tonight reflects the interest that there is in adoption
there are over one two hundred members of that association many have adopted and some wish to adopt
our attitudes to adoption have changed utterly
in ireland we come from a past where mothers particularly single mothers had their babies taken from them and given away to others to be adopted
that is not a good history but it is certainly one that has now conditioned how we think of adoption the child must be at the centre of it
certainly the birth families are very important in all of this
equally we have a duty and a responsibility to give the very best possible home to all our children
each member state and that is the level on which this should operate needs to protect children within its own borders
europe should provide a coordinating role
i hope that in ireland we will have a referendum on the rights of the child
we talk about it a lot but we are not so effective in actually dealing with it
i am hopeful that the referendum will happen
the situation will certainly improve then
this has been a really useful debate and i thank colleagues for it
