Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for attending today. They are very powerful, real, lived experiences of people who passionately love and advocate for their children. It would be prudent of me to commence my section by acknowledging my personal experience of surrogacy. No one in the surrogacy space, either domestic or international, wants to see anyone's human rights violated. That is a commonality among all of us. No one wants to see women exploited and no one is in denial of the potential for exploitation in some jurisdictions. Let us dispel the notion we are unwilling or have our heads in the sand as to the potential here. We want to engage with that and find an ethical route through it that safeguards everybody's rights.

We also have to acknowledge in this space that intending parents are also vulnerable and at the risk of being exploited. They are obliged to engage with their childlessness in the world of commercial fertility clinics, whether in Ireland or abroad. It is also in Ireland; let us be clear about that. Infertility arises in a number of ways, whether it be diagnosed, undiagnosed, arising out of serious or chronic illnesses and disabilities, or arising out of the social infertility of same-sex couples for obvious reasons.

What are we saying? In some of this debate and some of the contributions we hear in public areas, we are saying we are going to decide who can and cannot have a child, that in 2015 when we voted for marriage equality, we were going to put a ceiling on who should be entitled to the opportunity to aspire to a family. No one in this space thinks they are entitled to a child but they are entitled to the opportunity to create and try for a family in the same way everybody else does. I believe this really is about an ethical pathway, about the possibility of parenthood and ensuring everybody's rights are safeguarded. The failure to legislate and to address maturely the very reasonable questions that arise is signalling we are deciding who can and cannot become parents. That is not a reasonable position for anybody to take. As legislators we have to have the courage to take on board all of the potential here.

My vision for the outcome of the international surrogacy special purpose Oireachtas joint committee - that is quite a mouthful - is that we have some sort of oversight entity in Ireland that regulates assisted human reproduction, full stop, and that we have a structure that guides and incentivises or funnels, as Professor O'Mahony has said, couples needing surrogacy in order to have an opportunity of parenthood to choose the most ethical routes possible. There is an ethical way we can honour the European Court of Human Rights obligations on us to provide that route to having that parental relationship legally recognised. We can also ensure we can apply the UN standards so that, when our people travel to other countries, there are similar standards in terms of human rights, it is free and informed consent, and there is access to the court, independent legal advice and independent translators. There is a collective experience among those who have been there and done it that can contribute to the due diligence. It is about putting that into the legislation, either primary or secondary, or in the guidelines that are required. It is important we ensure we have one genetic link to a child born via international surrogacy, that compensation payments are made in advance of any birth so it is not seen to be transactional around the birth of the child, and that we have oversight.

There are two important things to introduce into this. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, is a member of the International Social Service, ISS, an international federation of organisations that includes NGOs and governmental agencies.

Their main purpose is to reconnect families across jurisdictions. However, ISS has developed what are called the Verona Principles, which require comprehensive safeguards and protections for children born via surrogacy, and that they should be clearly established in relevant legislation, policy, decision-making and practice. There is also the Hague Conference on Private International Law which has an expert group that is expected to report in 2023 on the private international law issues relating to international surrogacy. These are important to set a context for those who are starting to speak out on international surrogacy and on this need in anticipation of the committee.

I welcomed Professor O'Mahony's report. I was very grateful when it was published and that the Minister took the decision to publish it. However, between that and Professor O'Mahony's statement today, there are two things that raise concern for me and which I would like to discuss. I am with Ms Cohalan all the way on the sanctions element. I believe we will end up penalising the child. Also, the law as it stands sees a parental order for the father automatically because of the way we assign citizenship, which means that the guardianship would perhaps only be effected to the mother or the second parent in that instance. I would be loath to see that. I am aware of the current availability of guardianship and custody in many instances, including my own, but I am aware of situations where that has been weaponised in other couples in relationship breakdowns. Given the fact that guardianship can be lifted and removed, I would be fearful of that.

Professor O'Mahony also has a line which states that we need to ensure that intending parents are suitable parents. As we look around this call, what would he determine to be suitable parents and where is that threshold? Should we not apply that to all people who are being parents? I believe there is an inherent possibility of bias in that, or that it subscribes to a stereotype about parents and couples pursuing their passion for a child via surrogacy and ascribes the stereotype to them. I am mindful of that.

I agree with Mr Kenny Moore with regard to Canada. There is a model there that we should be pursuing. He also touched on something very important, which is with regard to language here. We refer to surrogates. That is not meant to be dehumanising or disparaging in any way. It is the preference of the women who we prize in our lives who gave us the gift of our babies. At present, children can inherit from women who did not intend that lifelong relationship, so they prefer to take that word out of it although we very much respect their role.

I have said enough and will hand over to the witnesses.