Ms Cathy Wheatley:

I thank the Chairman. There was one thing I wanted to pick up on. I thank Senator Ruane for what she said because we very much feel there is a spotlight on us as parents and a burden of proof on us to ensure we can show we have done the right thing. Like I said before, we bear witness to our children and they are the ones we answer to. On some of the misconceptions around surrogacy the Chair talked about, in particular to do with a question from Senator Keogan earlier on about the surrogate mother and the birth mother and that situation, in surrogacy and the surrogacy we availed of, the surrogate is a gestational carrier. She has no genetic link to the child. Obviously she gives birth to the child and her place needs to be recognised in that but she is a gestational carrier and that is the term we use that they are happy for us to use as well.

That then leads on to the situation of birth certificates whereby if we have this thing of the surrogate being named on the birth certificate, that piece of paper is one your children must produce regularly throughout their lives. I would not want to see children who are being in some way marked, standing out or stigmatised because there is a birth certificate. The UN convention says our children have the right to a private life and that needs to be upheld. In that regard, for all of our children, that needs to really be considered because this information is their private information as they go through life. Obviously, I have been very public with mine but it is about who they want to share their story with and who they do not want to. To have to produce a birth certificate that exposes them, given all the crazy things you need your birth certificate for - I do not want to see children being stigmatised and do not want to see them being marked in some way by the method of their conception.