Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for their attendance and their presentations. My first questions are for Dr. Bracken, regarding children in Ireland who have been born through surrogacy. She mentioned them in her document. Will she expand on our responsibilities to them as legislators? The issue has gone on too long. A whole bunch of children are not recognised and that is not right, and we need to act on it. How does she foresee that playing out?

I have become fixated on the issue of pre-birth, post-birth or at-birth parentage. I will put my cards on table, as I have done since the start, and state my belief that the pre-birth model is the best one. Dr. Bracken stated that for international surrogacy, the best of the three is post birth but did she mean at-birth? For all the various reasons we consistently hear relating to potential medical issues and who will take responsibility for that, there are many difficulties in respect of post-birth parentage. I think that if there were a good system that operated correctly, the pre-birth model would be the way forward.

I might follow up with questions for Mr. Lennon and Mr. Kenny Moore. I greatly appreciate our guests being here and sharing their personal stories, and I wish the best of luck to Mr. Lennon on his journey.