Dr. Andrea Mulligan:

I think that is really important. Ideally, there would be more domestic surrogacy and less international surrogacy. That is probably better for everyone. If there was a proper legal framework here, and people could know what their rights would be, it would be more likely that we would have more surrogacy in Ireland. It is certainly optimal in terms of open surrogacy and all that. That is the hope, but the law cannot do that on its own. It is a sort of cultural change as well. I know some people feel that in a small country perhaps people will not be okay with it. Why would it be less socially acceptable to have a domestic surrogate than an international surrogate? We must accommodate some of those things. It is important that people are allowed to find surrogates. One issue potentially with the legislation is that people are not allowed to advertise for surrogacy, but we need to make sure that does not stop people finding altruistic surrogates. What about Facebook groups that are for people who want to find surrogates? What about non-profit organisations that set up surrogates? Are they going to be caught by the advertising ban? That needs to be looked at. My view is that incentivising domestic surrogacy would be preferable.