Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise if I ask legal questions that I really should understand, but I will bring it back down to basic questions. Obviously, we are not in a position to regulate something that is not within our jurisdiction, but we are in a position to regulate something that is in our jurisdiction, which means when intending parents arrive here. There is the legal question of what somebody's legal rights are when the person is here in Ireland, and then there are the ethical and moral questions that will decide the other stuff relating to commercialisation and whether the surrogate mother had the right supports in place and so forth. Which ones are we more obliged to address? Are we more obliged to address the legal questions of those pathways to parenthood when somebody is here, if we do not have jurisdiction abroad? Is it then just making an ethical call that by regulating we open ourselves up for greater conversations with other countries where there is surrogacy and different laws, to be able to meet those standards and have greater relationships? When it is boiled down, are we asking a legal question as to what we can do here to address the realities of surrogacy abroad, and whether we have any reach into other countries that we do not currently have? Do we have to decide between an ethical question of what happens in other countries versus a legal question regarding what happens when intended parents are here with their child? How do we balance the two?