Irish couples will be able to adopt children from Bulgaria, South Africa and Thailand through administrative agreements being discussed by the Adoption Board under the new Adoption Act, The Irish Times has learned.

Under the Act a new Adoption Authority will replace the Adoption Board, with responsibility for recognising all adoptions, both from Ireland and abroad, and for accrediting and regulating the bodies involved in adoption.

At an information meeting of the IAA at the weekend the chairman of the Adoption Board, Geoffrey Shannon, outlined how the new Act would operate, and the new opportunities for inter-country adoption it offered.

Shannon told the meeting that the board was working on administrative arrangements for adoptions from Bulgaria, South Africa and Thailand, though they were not yet finalised.

Transitional arrangements will be put in place so that people within the adoption process under the old system will not be disadvantaged when the new system comes into place, the meeting heard. This includes a provision whereby anyone with a declaration of suitability and eligibility to adopt will still be able to adopt from non-Hague countries like Russia and Ethiopia, or any jurisdiction whose adoption law is Hague-compatible.

The new Adoption Authority will also be drawing up criteria for the accreditation and regulation of adoption bodies such as the mediation agencies that work with individual countries.

According to the report between 10 and 15 application packs had already gone from Ireland to an agency in Bulgaria.

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