Ms Elaine Cohalan:

Before I get to answering the questions, I will make a contribution on use of language and its impact. It is really important committee members think about their responsibility to lead the debate around surrogacy in a respectful, dignified way. Inflammatory language and using undefined terms do not benefit the debate. Our members are ordinary people who have in some cases been through harrowing experiences. We are doing our best to be good parents to our much-loved children. We are Irish citizens, the constituents of committee members and those members are our representatives.

Having lived through and experienced Ireland's journey towards marriage equality in 2015 as a member of the LGBT+ community, I can tell the committee that words matter. The words of committee members here matter and have impact. I celebrated when Ireland said "Yes" but I also suffered what that referendum campaign and words brought. There were public debates and discourse with inflammatory language on whether people like me were worthy, whether we mattered and whether we could be trusted. There were speeches, articles, poster campaigns and advertisements displaying families like mine as something to be feared and something that was wrong and shameful. Inflammatory language stokes fear and mistrust.

I am thankful that I am living a wonderful life with my wife and daughter.

I am thankful that Ireland said "Yes", but I bear the scars of that debate. The people here today, listening today, and engaging in this wider discourse will bear the scars of that language. Members will have noticed today and in the past couple of weeks heightened discourse around the prejudice that the LGBT community faces. Hate crimes-----