There were fewer adoptions in Ireland in 2019 than in any of the past 10 years.

The number of adoptions has halved over the past decade.

In 2010, there were 225 adoptions in Ireland but last year there were only 112, as the decline over the past decade continued.

According to details released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, there were 79 domestic adoptions in 2019 and 33 inter-country ones.

Of the foreign adoptions, there were 21 boys and 12 girls.

More than half of them came from Vietnam at 18, followed by the US at 10 - with the others coming from China, Bulgaria and Haiti.

But the number of foreign adoptions by Irish parents last year, at 33, compares to 188 in 2011 - and is the lowest since then.

Suzanne Connolly is the chief executive of the children's charity Barnardos.

"The main reason for a decrease in adoptions from abroad is because in 2010 Ireland ratified the Hague Convention - and that established clear criteria internationally for the placement of children for adoption outside their country of birth.

"So in Ireland we are continuing to adopt children from abroad, and that is following specific individual agreements between Ireland and particular countries".

Dublin was the county with the most adoptions last year with 29.