Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 21 April 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy
Surrogacy in Ireland and in Irish and International Law: Assisted Human Reproduction Coalition
Ms Claire O'Connell:
Yesterday's contributions were excellent. Previous witnesses alluded to us being lucky to have the benefit of the experience of the UK, which has had this system for so long.
We get to look at the reforms proposed in the UK's law commissions and then wonder if we could not just start from that perspective. I authored a proposal, which I think has been circulated to the members, detailing how we could do this in legislation. It first sets out that there would be principles. Again, this is about informed consent, autonomy and the right to respect for private family life. Definitions of "compensation" and "exploitation" are included, and all these types of things. What we must do is to set all these things out for ourselves and it is possible to do it. It could be done over a bank holiday weekend. I hope I have answered the Senator's question.
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