Applications for the adoption of children from abroad rose by 68 per cent last year to 1,045, according to the Minister of State for Health, Ms Mary Hanafin. She said, however, that domestic adoption or adoption of Irish children placed with families by agencies had dropped significantly from a high of 1,287 in 1975 to just 90 adoption orders in 1999.
The Minister told Fine Gael's health spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, that in some cases an adoption agency might only place two or three children in one year. Ms Hanafin said that extra funding of £1 million was allocated in 1999 and 2000, with an additional £360,000 in this year's Estimates.
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