3.— (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“accredited body” means a body of persons whose name is entered in the register of accredited bodies;

F1[“Act of 1964” means the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964;]

F1[”Act of 2010” means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;]

F2[”Act of 2015” means the Gender Recognition Act 2015;]

“Adopted Children Register” means the Adopted Children Register maintained by an tArd-Chláraitheoir under section 22 of the Adoption Act 1952 and continued in being by section 84;

“Adoption Acts” means the Adoption Acts 1952 to 1998;

“adoption committee” means a committee established by the F3[Child and Family Agency] under section 36;

“adoption order” means an order for the adoption of a child made—

(a) before the establishment day, by An Bord Uchtála under the Adoption Acts, or

(b) on or after the establishment day, by the Authority under this Act;

“Article”, in relation to a numbered Article, means the Article so numbered of the Hague Convention and a reference to a subdivision of a numbered Article shall be read accordingly;

“assessment of eligibility and suitability”, in relation to a person, means an assessment of whether or not the person—

(a) comes within the classes of persons in whose favour an adoption order may by virtue of section 33 be made, and

(b) is under section 34 a suitable person to have parental rights and duties in relation to a child;

“the Authority” means the body established by section 94;

F4[”bilateral agreement” means an agreement referred to in section 73 entered into by the Government and a non-contracting state concerning intercountry adoption;]

“bilateral agreement adoption” means an adoption—

(a) effected in accordance with a bilateral agreement in a state that is a party to the agreement, and

(b) certified, in accordance with the agreement, by the competent authority of the state of the adoption as having been so effected;

“Central Authority” means—

(a) in relation to a Convention adoption, the body designated as the Central Authority by a contracting state, under Article 6 (which relates to the designation and appointment of Central Authorities) to perform the functions conferred under the Hague Convention on such authorities,

(b) in relation to a bilateral agreement adoption, a body designated as the Central Authority under that agreement to perform the functions conferred under that agreement on such authorities, and

(c) in relation to an intercountry adoption in the circumstances referred to in section 81, a body designated as the Central Authority under an arrangement under that section to perform the functions conferred under that arrangement on such authorities,

and in each case, in relation to functions performable in the State, means the Authority;

“chief executive officer” means the person appointed to be the chief executive officer of the Authority under section 103;

“child” means any person who is under the age of 18 years;

F1[”civil partner” shall be construed in accordance with section 3 of the Act of 2010;

”cohabitant” shall be construed in accordance with section 172(1) of the Act of 2010;

”cohabiting couple” means 2 adults who are cohabitants of each other and who have been living together as cohabitants for a continuous period of not less than 3 years;]

“contracting state” means a state, other than any state to whose accession to the Hague Convention the State has raised an objection pursuant to Article 44 (which relates to accession to the Hague Convention), in respect of which the Hague Convention has entered into force in accordance with Article 46 and shall be read so that this Act shall have effect in relation to—

(a) if a contracting state has declared under Article 45 (which makes special provision for states with 2 or more territorial units) that the Hague Convention shall extend to one or more than one territorial unit within that state, that unit or those units, and

(b) each other contracting state;

“Convention adoption” means an intercountry adoption effected in accordance with the Hague Convention in a contracting state and for which a certificate under paragraph (1) of Article 23 (which relates to recognition of adoptions certified by the competent authority of the state of adoption) has been provided;

“declaration of eligibility and suitability” means a declaration issued by the Authority under section 40;

“domestic adoption” means the adoption of a child who was habitually resident in the State before his or her adoption by a person or persons habitually resident in the State;

F5["donor-conceived child" has the same meaning as it has in Part 2 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015;

"father", in relation to a child, includes a man who is, under section 5 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, a parent of the child where that child is a donor-conceived child;]

“establishment day” means the establishment day appointed under section 6;

“financial year”, in relation to the Authority, means a period of 12 months ending on 31 December in any year and, in the case of the first financial year of the Authority, means the period commencing on the establishment day and ending on 31 December in the year in which the establishment day falls;

F2[”gender recognition certificate” has the same meaning as it has in the Gender Recognition Act 2015;]

“guardian”, in relation to a child, means a person who—

F6[(a) is a guardian of the child pursuant to the Act of 1964, other than a guardian appointed—

(i) under section 6C of that Act where subsection (9) of that section applies to that appointment but the court has not made an order that that person enjoys the rights and responsibilities specified in subsection (11)(f) of that section, or

(ii) under section 6E of that Act, or]

(b) is appointed to be a guardian of the child by—

(i) deed or will, or

(ii) order of a court in the State,

and has not been removed from office;

“Hague Convention” means the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption, 1993, the text of which, subject to subsection (3), is set out for convenience of reference in Schedule 2;

“interim order” means an order under section 44;

“intercountry adoption” means the adoption of a child habitually resident in a state (the “state of origin”), whether a contracting state or non-contracting state, who has been, is being or is to be transferred into another state (the “receiving state”)—

(a) after the child’s adoption in the state of origin by a person or persons habitually resident in the receiving state, or

(b) for the purposes of an adoption, in either the receiving state or the state of origin, by a person or persons habitually resident in the receiving state;

“intercountry adoption effected outside the State” means—

(a) an adoption of a child effected outside the State at any time before the establishment day that, at that time, conformed to the definition of “foreign adoption” in section 1 of the Adoption Act 1991,

(b) an adoption, other than an intercountry adoption, of a child effected outside the State at any time on or after the establishment day that conforms to the definition of “foreign adoption” in section 1 of the Adoption Act 1991 as it read on 30 May 1991, or

(c) an intercountry adoption of a child effected outside the State at any time on or after the establishment day that, at that time, is in compliance with the applicable provisions of this Act and the Hague Convention;

“local authority” has the same meaning as it has in the Local Government Act 2001;

“Minister” means the Minister for Health and Children;

“non-contracting state” means a state other than a contracting state;

F7[…]

F8[“parent” means, in relation to a child—

(a) the mother or father of the child, or

F9[(b) a woman (other than the mother) who is, under section 5 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, a parent of the child where that child is a donor-conceived child,]

and includes an adopter of the child;]

“personal public service number” has the meaning assigned to it by section 262 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005;

“prescribed” means prescribed by the Minister by regulations under this Act;

“receiving state”, in relation to an intercountry adoption, means the state in which the prospective adopters of a child are habitually resident;

“register of accredited bodies” means the register kept under section 35 of the Adoption Act 1952 as the Adoption Societies Register and continued in being under section 126 as the register of accredited bodies;

F2[”register of gender recognition of intercountry adoptions” means the register established under section 91A;]

“register of intercountry adoptions” means the register established under section 6 of the Adoption Act 1991 as the Register of Foreign Adoptions and continued in being under section 90 as the register of intercountry adoptions;

“relative”, in relation to a child, means a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt of the child, whether of the whole blood, of the half-blood or by affinity and includes the spouse of any such person, F10[relationship to the child being traced through a parent of that child];

F11[“relevant non-guardian” means, in relation to a child—

(a) a father of the child who is not a guardian of the child pursuant to the Act of 1964,

F12[(b) a parent of the child under section 5 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 who is not a guardian pursuant to the Act of 1964,]

(c) a person who is appointed as a guardian of the child pursuant to section 6C of the Act of 1964 where subsection (9) of that section applies to that appointment but in respect of which the court has not made an order that the person enjoys the rights and responsibilities specified in subsection (11)(f) of that section, or

(d) a person appointed by the court to be a temporary guardian of the child under section 6E of the Act of 1964;]

“state of origin”, in relation to a child, means the state in which the child is habitually resident before—

(a) his or her adoption, or

(b) his or her proposed adoption,

by a person habitually resident in another state.

F1[”step parent” has the meaning assigned to it by section 37;]

(2) In this Act, references to adopters shall, where the context so requires, include references to an adopter.

(3) In Schedule 2, in a head note to a numbered Article, the descriptor following the number—

(a) is not part of the Hague Convention, and

(b) shall be considered to have been added editorially for convenience of reference only.