Mr. Brian Merriman:

I have a concern about surrogacy being described as a commodity or transaction. We have taken three serious cases in relation to surrogate parents in Ireland. All of them involved young couples, the female of which following marriage had cancer and either lost her womb or ovaries. In these cases, it was either a relative or a sister who decided, not only to enable the sister's recovery from the dreadful disease at a young age but to give her the gift of a family, to be a surrogate mother of a child who would be raised by the couple, the father being the biological father. We are not talking about transactions or commodities. We are talking about real situations. The Equality Authority has stood beside these children in having access to full family lives.

It is important to refocus the discussion. Surrogacy is not some type of trendy lifestyle choice. There is no such thing as gay or straight parents. There are only good or bad parents. If, in the case of adoption, a biological mother can stipulate that she would like her child-children to be raised by straight parents, why then could she not also stipulate that they be raised by wealthy parents? It is important to understand that there are people with many needs. There are children who require the vindication of their rights because their mother, father and so on has a disability, cancer and somebody in their family is wonderful enough to do something for them. The global description of surrogacy as a process in which children are a commodity is false. I say this on behalf of the people we have supported. We have been able to ensure children born as a result of surrogacy, which children could not have been born as a result of a dreadful disability and illness, are now with happy families. These children deserve respect and rights. I admire the relatives who have enabled their families to have these children.