Professor Nóirín Hayes:

The context within which I was making that observation had to do specifically with the Bill on surrogacy and the timeline around the counselling process and the final issuing of a parent order. The observation was that we may be unintentionally adding to a stressful situation. The uncertainties around parenthood that will exist in that space could be very stressful for parents and I propose that this stressful environment is less than conducive to positive early child development. That is the point that I was making specifically in relation to the length of time and the suggestion that certainty around parenthood could be had before the child is born and we had some lengthy discussion about that earlier. I suggest that it is an optimal position, because it is recognised that the intended parents are intended to be the parents and the whole process is geared towards that. Consequently, I was simply suggesting that inadvertently, the Bill may be contributing to stressful situations for children.