Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

How do we follow that? I follow it by saying this day seven years ago my daughter was born and when her surrogate mother recovered I placed her in her arms, knelt at her feet and thanked her for the incredible miracle that is my child. We light our candles later today. She has asked for anonymity in these circumstances but she is not anonymous in our house. She is very vital and important in our house.

There are a few issues that have come up. I would like Ms Merrigan to share what I know is part of her story because it came up in the context of last week's discussion about clinics abroad and protocols here. She has a very valuable contribution to make on that. It is not that I am ignoring others - I am trying to be mindful of time - but perhaps Ms Delargy could speak to step-parent adoption and the question that people might ask of just going down the adoption route. If it were that straightforward, we would all have done it. Perhaps we could explore what that is and the impediments. NISIG has done an amazing job over many years and I thank its members for the advocacy and factual and truthful workshops.