Adoption Board officials have been attempting to get the couple who adopted three-year-old Tristan Dowse to regularise the status of their son for over a year, it has emerged.
In a statement released through their solicitor yesterday, the couple said they were prepared to take whatever legal steps were necessary to facilitate the readoption or replacement of Tristan.
However, Adoption Board officials and the Department of Foreign Affairs have been in contact with the couple and their solicitor for more than 12 months seeking unsuccessfully to resolve issues surrounding Tristan.
Speaking to The Irish Times last night, Gus Cullen, solicitor for Joe and Lala Dowse, confirmed that contact had been ongoing for over a year but attributed delays to the Indonesian adoption system.
"I followed the proper legal channels on behalf of the Dowses by bringing this to the attention of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Adoption Board. We have been unable to satisfy their legal requirement for quicker progress in Indonesia," Mr Cullen said.
"The operation of the Indonesian adoption system is out of my control. The Dowses are delighted that the Department and Adoption Board are sending people to help resolve the blockage in Indonesia."
Mr Cullen said the matter was first raised with the Department and Adoption Board on April 19th, 2004, shortly before Tristan was placed in an orphanage in Jakarta by the couple.
He said legal difficulties surrounding a revocation order for the adoption of the child arose in October or November of last year which had held up matters.
When asked whether the couple could have done more to expedite the legal process in Indonesia, Mr Cullen said "he did not know", but added that the father had been closely involved in arranging for his readoption.
"To be fair to Joe [Dowse], he had been making efforts to assist on the ground. This readoption has been on the cards since last year.
"Our difficulty is that we don't know what's holding up the readoption. The tsunami and earthquake didn't help. That's not the reason, but they may be contributory factors."
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen called for the couple to be charged with the abandonment of the child if they return to Ireland.
Mr Cullen said the comments were "unhelpful". He said the couple were under great stress and had placed the boy in an orphanage only after Indonesian authorities had authorised them do to so.
"The couple brought this problem to the attention of Irish authorities. Calling for lynching mobs isn't of any help. For a TD to put the couple under fear of arrest in Dublin Airport isn't helpful and not in Tristan's interests."
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern, meanwhile, said there would have to be "absolute justification" for the revocation of the boy's citizenship rights, given its implications for his future inheritance or maintenance rights.