Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before we begin, I will go through some housekeeping matters. If members or witnesses who are participating remotely experience any sound or technical issues, they should let us know through the chat function. Otherwise, we will proceed. I wish to advise everybody that as it is a public meeting the chat function on MS Teams should only be used to advise participants of any technical issues or urgent matters and not used to make general comments or statements.

I remind members who are participating remotely to keep their device on mute until they are invited to speak. When they are speaking I ask them to have their camera switched on, where possible, and to be mindful that we are in public session. In addition, I remind members of the constitutional requirements that members must be physically present within the confines of the place where Parliament has chosen to sit, namely, Leinster House, in order to participate in public meetings. I will not permit members to participate where they are not adhering to this constitutional requirement. I ask everyone participating in the committee room to be vigilant with regard to Covid-19.

Today's meeting is on the rights of the child in respect of domestic and international surrogacy. I welcome all our witnesses here today to discuss this very important topic. The format of the meeting will be an opening statement from each group and they will be followed by questions and answers with members. Each member has an individual question-and-answer slot of approximately five minutes. The witnesses, who are addressing the committee remotely from outside Leinster House, are Professor Conor O'Mahony, special rapporteur for child protection; Dr. Lydia Bracken, University of Limerick; Ms Ciara Merrigan, chairperson, and Ms Cathy Wheatley, spokesperson, of Irish Families Through Surrogacy, IFTS; and Ms Elaine Cohalan, chairperson, and Mr. Gearóid Kenny Moore, director, of Equality for Children. We will start with Professor O'Mahony, who will be followed by Dr. Bracken, Ms Merrigan and Ms Cohalan. Before I invite them to give their opening statements I must advise them about parliamentary privilege. As all the witnesses are appearing before the committee virtually, I must point out there is uncertainty if parliamentary privilege will apply to their evidence from a location outside of the parliamentary precincts of Leinster House. Therefore, if they are directed by me to cease giving evidence on a particular matter, it is imperative that they comply with any such direction. Each speaker is allocated three minutes speaking time and then there will be questions and answers with members.

I invite Professor O'Mahony to give his opening statement.