The Adoption Authority of Ireland has suspended applications to adopt children from Guatemala following concerns about adoption procedures and child-trafficking.
About 75 children from Guatemala have been adopted by Irish parents within the last five years.
There have been ongoing concerns over corruption in the adoption process in Guatemala, while there have been reports of Guatemalan mothers being pressurised into selling their children into adoption.
This week some 46 children believed to be abducted or forced from their parents were rescued from an adoption home in Guatemala. However, the owner has insisted the operation was legal and approved by the government.
The board of the Adoption Authority said yesterday that it was satisfied with the adoption of Guatemalan children previously under domestic legislation. However, in a statement, it said it was suspending applications due to continuing international concern regarding adoption practices in Guatemala.
The Adoption Authority said no applications for adoptions from Guatemala would be accepted after yesterday, although applications made prior to that will be accepted.
"This temporary suspension will remain in place pending the outcome of efforts currently being taken by the Guatemalan authorities to bring their practices and procedures up to international standard. An Bord Uchtála wishes to express its support to the Guatemalan authorities in taking these steps," the board said in a statement, posted on its website.
Among its concerns are that the country does not prohibit improper payments in the adoption process; has no central authority; and does not have a system to accredit adoption service providers. Other countries such as the US, Canada and the Netherlands, have also expressed concern about the adoption regime there. The Adoption Authority's decision is likely to focus attention on Ireland's failure to ratify an international convention regulating inter-country adoptions.
The Hague Convention - which Ireland has signed but not ratified - requires that inter-country adoptions may take place only where it is in the best interests of the child and where no profit is made.
Ireland has one of the highest rates of foreign adoptions in Europe with up to 500 foreign adoptions a year, compared with just 250 in larger countries such as the UK.
Experts say the reasons behind the high rate include the relative scarcity of Irish children for domestic adoption and Ireland's failure to ratify an international convention regulating inter-country adoptions. Ireland is one of only a few European countries which has yet to ratify the convention.