Dr. Mary Wingfield:

It is a good question. It is only in the past year or so that we are getting more inquiries.

We got the licence approximately three years ago, but we have not told everybody that we are offering surrogacy. Once the legislation is in place and people are protected, everybody involved, including the clinics, doctors, scientists and nurses who are working in the area, will be trying to do more and more of it. This is why we are attached to the National Maternity Hospital. Irish women are generally generous. There is a good chance that many women who give birth in the hospital might in future be willing to act as surrogates. Once we have legislation, we would be keen to facilitate that.

We are getting more and more queries from young women who may have cancer or who may have medical conditions. They know that they will require surrogacy. Yet, they may be in their late 20s or early 30s and who do not actually want to do the surrogacy at the moment. Again, they are waiting for the legislation. They have no idea if they will do domestic or international surrogacy. However, they want to freeze eggs or freeze embryos now, so that they will have them.

There are also some people who have medical conditions. They might have a serious heart condition, serious renal failure or a kidney condition. Therefore, they cannot carry a pregnancy. It is medically risky for them to do an egg collection to provide their eggs to make an embryo. It is far safer for them to do that in Ireland. They, therefore, apply to us because we are attached to a maternity hospital. This is why we need clarification that if they have embryos here and in five years’ time want to use those for surrogacy, they will hopefully be able to do that in Ireland. Yet, we do not want to freeze their embryos now, unless we are sure that we can send them to another country in the future, if they need that.