Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank both witnesses very much for their statements. Regarding pre-birth and post-birth systems of transferring parentage rights from the surrogate mother to the intending parents, can best balance be provided to protect the rights of the intending parents and of the surrogate mother? Does either system have particular benefits with regard to protecting the rights of children born through surrogacy?

Ms Gamble noted in her statement that it can be difficult to find UK surrogates. There are four non-profit matching organisations that have considerably long waiting lists. Could she elaborate on the point that it is incredibly rare for the surrogate to change her mind? It does happen. What makes surrogacy ethical? That is the question we want to get our heads around.

She also said that the UK law is not perfect and it has evolved to work in practice, perhaps through judicial flexibility around criteria that could have been interpreted restrictively, but this has muddied the rules with case law significantly varying what the legislation appears to say. There is also significant delay in recognising children's identity, leaving them living with a family of which they are not legally a member for up to one year following their birth. She said in considering a similar judicial recognition of surrogacies, it would be sensible for the Irish Government to consider a prompt, ideally, pre-birth process, and to ensure the criteria are not too restrictive. What way would she see that working in Ireland?