asked the Minister for Health when the working party on adoption is expected to report; when its report will be published; if its recommendations will be included in the proposed Children Bill; and when the Children Bill will be published.

I expect the Review Committee on Adoption to report early in the New Year and I intend, with the permission of the Government, to publish it as soon as I receive it.

The decision as to whether any necessary changes in the law relating to adoption will be provided in the Children Bill or in separate legislation will be dependent on the extent of the legislation changes proposed by the committee and on the progress which will have been made in the meantime on the preparation of the Children Bill.

The present position in relation to the Children Bill is that my Department has almost completed an extensive redrafting of the general scheme of the Bill to take account of my own views and preliminary comments of other relevant Departments. The revised scheme will be recirculated to the Departments concerned immediately after Christmas and, assuming that no major difficulties arise, I would expect to submit the Bill to the Government by the end of February.

The Deputy will appreciate that, once Government approval has been obtained, the drafting of the Bill by the parliamentary draftsman is likely to take some considerable time because of the extent of its provisions. In the light of this, I am not in a position to say when the Bill will be introduced in the House but, I would like to assure the House that I will do my utmost to expedite the introduction of this important measure.

I appreciate that the Minister acknowledges and understands the urgency of this matter. Might I draw to the Minister's attention the fact that a new Children Bill has been promised not merely by himself but by his many predecessors for over a decade now? Is the Minister in a position to indicate when such Bill will be published and circulated — hopefully at the very least before the Easter recess — or will publication of this Bill take place some time before the end of 1984?

I can assure the Deputy that I am bringing every pressure to bear, both within my Department and in my relations with other Government Departments, to have the Bill presented as rapidly as possible. In the past week I have taken further measures of a consultative legal nature to expedite some of the problems which have arisen in relation to the Bill. It is a very extensive Bill and one which, if I may repeat, I had to start from scratch when I took over.