Professor Conor O'Mahony:

My understanding of the proposal that is being considered at EU level is about the mutual recognition of parentage. In other words, in the event that somebody was recognised as a parent in law of one EU member state, they would automatically qualify for recognition as a parent in another EU member state. That is a proposal which is not specific to the issue of surrogacy, so it would not potentially address quite a number of the concerns around international surrogacy that we have just mentioned. Equally, it would only be limited to EU member states. When we talk about international surrogacy, we really cannot afford to zone in on just on EU member states, because it is a much bigger picture than that. The reality, as we know from experience, is that most Irish couples who travel abroad to engage in international surrogacy travel to non-EU member states. As a result, EU law is not an appropriate vehicle for dealing with arrangements that arise in Ukraine, California, Canada, or any other country where Irish couples most frequently go. It is possible that it may smooth over certain issues in certain situations, but it is a much too narrow project to address the wider issue of international surrogacy that we are speaking about today.