Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will probably have more questions when I get home and digest some of this. I apologise for that. I thank Dr. Mulligan very much. It is good to thrash out some of this information because we do have to legislate for the reality and whatever issues people have, the reality is that children and families are living in an unsound legal framework. We must make sure we deal with that. Whether we say international surrogacy is bad or good, it is happening and we must catch up with ourselves. All of Europe and all of the world have to catch up. We must make sure we put in as many safeguards as possible because we cannot legislate for another country, but we can work hard in that regard. In reality, a decision to go through international surrogacy is not a flash in the pan. It is being done as a last-case scenario and it is an incredible miracle. It is absolutely fantastic.

Moving away from international surrogacy for a moment, it we provide a strong framework for domestic surrogacy, does Dr. Mulligan think that will alleviate some of the need and that it would be more acceptable domestically to have surrogacy here? It would help more couples and they would not have to go abroad.