Dr. Brian Tobin:

I propose that the Bill should provide parity between the situation of the gestational surrogate and the known sperm donor - I am only speaking in terms of a known sperm donor - such that with the gestational surrogate there is 30-day cooling off period and then she can choose transfer parentage to the commissioning couple or the intended parents. Where a child is born, say, to a lesbian couple and there is a known sperm donor, as per McD v. L, I propose that this would have to be introduced in conjunction with automatic guardianship rights for all unmarried fathers - that is part of the flaw there. If that was so introduced, if as Dr. Geoffrey Shannon has suggested that the time period is perhaps put to one side and we introduce automatic guardianship rights, as recommended by the Law Reform Commission, that should apply to the known sperm donor but he can choose to waive his guardianship rights, similar to what the gestational surrogate can do after a cooling off period, and the child will have its intended family structure realised in law. That is my proposed solution.