Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Professor O'Mahony and thank him for his attendance. It is good that we are at this point. Coming from the session we had earlier, I was confused - maybe that is the wrong word - or disheartened that many responses were to the effect that it was very difficult and there is hesitancy because people have struggled to legislate for this so far. However, the fact, as has often been highlighted by Professor O'Mahony, is that there are children in this country whose rights are not being addressed. Families are in a lacuna of the law and the last session did not furnish me with hope that the Department was looking towards the remit of this committee, part of which is to legislate and look after the rights and interests of all parents and the children alive and living in loving families in this country.

The following might be a naive question and I am trying to get my head around all the legalities of this, so I offer my apologies. In Part 7 of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill, the requirements for surrogate mothers and domestic surrogacy are outlined. Is there a mechanism available to move those requirements in a parallel way so as to register and allow children born in international surrogacy to be accommodated under the same requirements as domestic surrogacy, such as that the mother must be at least 25 and have previously given birth to a child, so that all these things are mirrored and there is a way to check those requirements on international surrogacy?

In their statement, the Department of Health representatives stated it is generally understood that most foreign surrogacies involve commercial payments beyond reasonable costs. As a complete newcomer to this, I note the Department of Health states it understands this to be normal practice.

The surrogacy bodies and the people who are involved in it do not mention commercial payments. It is more compensation and reasonable costs. Yet, the Department generally understands this to be the way.

Our issues paper states there are no official data and there is no reliable source. In Professor O’Mahony’s understanding, where is the Department getting this general assumption, considering we do not have any official data or reliable source recording any of this? We do not have reliable sources because the Department is failing. It is keeping its head in the sand about the reality of modern life and our global world that our citizens are partaking in international surrogacy. We have to look after the citizens. Regardless of whether people agree with this, there are children born who deserve rights.