Imagine for a moment the following scenario. An Irish citizen is discovered languishing in an institution on the other side of the world. He is unable to get out, unaware of his rights, and has no one to speak or act for him.
For over a year, he has been stuck in this situation, with no escape. Despite knowing of his troubles for all this time, the Irish Government has done virtually nothing to rescue him.
The Department of Foreign Affairs states that one of its primary goals is to protect Irish citizens abroad.
In the very real case described above, the individual concerned is only three years old. But for Irish citizen Tristan Dowse, abandoned as a toddler in an Indonesian orphanage, the protection of the Irish State has been virtually meaningless.
It was only when Tristan's plight became public last month that the Irish authorities became in any way active on his case. The Irish Ambassador in Singapore - which covers Indonesia - became involved and paid Tristan a visit. Officials from the Adoption Board here and the Department of Foreign Affairs were dispatched to Indonesia. After a year of almost complete inaction, suddenly everyone was interested in Tristan, spouting platitudes that they were all acting in his best interests.
The reality, however, is that there is nobody to act in Tristan's interests. His parents and the various Government agencies involved all have their own lawyers, but Tristan has no one to speak for him or to represent him.
It is interesting to look at who exactly is involved here and at their own particular interests.
Firstly, there are Tristan's parents: his Irish father, Joe Dowse, and Azerbaijani mother Lala. They adopted him when he was two months old, in a procedure which has now become questionable. Eighteen months later, when "it just didn't work out", according to Joe, they dumped Tristan in an orphanage and left the country. They appear keen to nullify the adoption as soon as possible.
Then there are the Indonesian authorities. They appear to feel that the adoption of Tristan was illegal and have indicated that they will apply to an Indonesian court to have it set aside. However, well over a year since the adoption broke down, nothing has happened.
It is possible that the Indonesian government might well be embarrassed by a detailed examination of Tristan's adoption. It seems to have been rushed through the system, with normal and proper procedures bypassed. While Tristan's birth mother is Indonesian, it is clear from the comments of various officials of that country that they consider Tristan to be Irish.
Over on this side of the world, the Adoption Board has had an involvement in the case since 2001. It has given the seal of approval to Indonesia's adoption procedures, and consequently Tristan's adoption was recognised by the Irish courts. He was placed on the Register of Foreign Adoptions, became an Irish citizen and was issued an Irish passport.
However, questions inevitably arise as to the role of the Adoption Board in an adoption which may in fact have been illegal. The board now also appears keen to have Tristan's adoption nullified by the Irish courts, leaving the way open for the child to be adopted again.
However, this may also result in the removal of Tristan's Irish citizenship, something which may certainly not be in his best interests in the future.
His case is a headache which the Government might well wish to be rid of, as it raises the daunting spectre of what duties the Irish State owes to the significant number of Irish citizen babies born to non-national parents in this country who have now left or been deported.
On a wider level, the Government must share some of the responsibility for Tristan's plight. Ten years ago, it signed the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoptions, but has since disgracefully failed to ratify it. The convention provides a wide range of safeguards around foreign adoptions, of which Ireland had more than 400 last year.
Designed to limit corruption and trafficking, it specifies for instance that Ireland would recognise only those adoptions from other participating countries. So far, Indonesia has neither signed nor ratified the convention.
What is clear from all this is that everyone involved in the case of young Tristan has their own agenda to pursue. This is not to say that they wish him any harm - far from it. But so far, there has been little indication that anyone has really cared what happens to him.
As his case becomes embroiled in separate legal processes thousands of miles apart, it is now vital that the Irish Government vindicates Tristan's rights by appointing both a social worker and a lawyer to act exclusively in his interests.
Without someone to fight for him and him only, there is a very real danger that the welfare of this small Irish citizen may be sacrificed on the altar of expediency.