Mr. Niall Redmond:

In an overall sense, the AHR Bill deals with the issue of domestic surrogacy but it also deals with a range of other issues in relation to AHR. As mentioned in the opening statement, it starts to regulate an area that has not been regulated and for which regulation has been called for quite a long time. It also is important to reflect that the enactment or the passing of that Bill does not automatically introduce that regulatory regime from day one. A huge number of requirements are to be put in place post the enactment of the Bill, including the establishment of a new regulatory authority, a substantial amount of secondary legislation and a number of aspects relating to the operation and function of that authority. Therefore, the longer into the future that the Bill becomes activated, the longer into the future again that some of the operationalisation of that can take place. We therefore are concerned that it could be a significant period before the operation and function of the regulatory regime, the licensing, the authorisation processes and the establishment of the regulatory authority itself actually would be realised.