Adopted foreign children 'should become Irish citizens'

Foreign children adopted by an Irish parent are entitled to become a citizen even if the family lives outside the state, it was recommended today.

The Law Reform Commission’s Report on Aspects of Intercountry Adoption Law stated non-national youngsters should have the same rights as any other child of Irish parents.

The report, to be launched by the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher SC, was requested in November 2005 after the case of Tristan Dowse.

The little boy was returned to an orphanage in Indonesia when his adoptive parents decided the adoption was not working out.

Last February the High Court ruled that the five-year-old’s adoptive parents - Joe Dowse, from Co Wicklow, and his Azerbaijani wife, Lala, – had breached their constitutional duties when they returned the youngster.

The judge ruled that the couple must support Tristan, who was back living with his birth mother, until he was 18.

The court also directed that Tristan should be removed from the Register of Foreign Adoptions that is maintained by the Adoption Board.

However, Tristan retained his Irish citizenship and rights of succession to the estates of his adoptive parents.

Under the Law Reform Commission Act 1975, former Attorney General Rory Brady SC requested that a study be carried out on the status and rights, including citizenship rights, of a child resident outside the state who has been the subject of a foreign or intercountry adoption order made in favour of an Irish citizen or citizens living abroad.

Around 4,500 foreign or intercountry adoptions have been registered by the Adoption Board since 1991, with 10% of those children living outside the state.

“Around 75% of intercountry adoptions in Ireland concern adoptive parents who live in Ireland and who have been assessed by the Health Service Executive and the Adoption Board before they travel abroad to adopt a child,” said a spokesman for the Law Reform Commission.

“The unusual circumstances of the Dowse case were relevant to the commission’s analysis of the questions raised by the Attorney General.”

The commission recommended that the law should remain as it is, particularly in view of the importance which the Irish diaspora attach to Irish citizenship.

It found children such as Tristan should be treated comparably in terms of their rights as any other child of Irish parents.

The report states that once an adoption is recognised in Ireland and at least one of the adopter’s is an Irish citizen, the adopted child is entitled to become an Irish citizen even where the family lives outside the state – as happened in the Dowse case.

The measure means both adopted children and children born to their parents are treated equally.

The report noted that the state’s duties to all children are limited under the Constitution to the extent that this is “practicable”.

In cases where children are adopted abroad, this is especially relevant because the state cannot reasonably be expected to investigate the parenting skills of Irish citizens who live abroad, and there are significant practical difficulties in ensuring the legal and constitutional rights of an Irish citizen child resident outside the state are enforced.

The commission added that, in cases such as Tristan which come to the attention of the State in the future, the Attorney General, in his role as guardian of the public interest, and in conjunction with the diplomatic and consular services of the Government, is the most appropriate officer of the State to protect the rights of a vulnerable child subject to relevant principles of international law.