Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a question for Mr. Lennon and Mr. Kenny Moore. Dr. Bracken spoke about the incredible amalgamation of different pathways to becoming mammies and daddies. It varies from couple to couple, country to country, person to person and case to case. How best can the State help the witnesses, as parents, to become parents and move through the ethical surrogacy we want? We all want the best-case scenario, as Dr. Bracken outlined, and that identity. Parents who opt to have that identity known are almost being penalised for doing so. Should we extend the regulatory authority to become an information service? Is there a best-case information service in any other jurisdiction? Is there somewhere we can look to? What kind of information would be most beneficial for intending parents, such as the witnesses, who are on that pathway to international surrogacy?

I also have a general question with regard to the pathway and the lack of recognition prior to birth. Mr. Kenny Moore told a lovely story about bringing his twins home and his family surrounding his newborn twins. At that stage, those children had two daddies but legally they had no parents, in a way. Practically, how did that make Mr. Kenny Moore feel? How best can we change that, respecting the birth mother and her rights to bodily autonomy and to change her mind and the witnesses' right to be the parents they want to be in the grey area of birth and moving from the birth mother to the new parents? I am sorry if that is all very jumbled.