Ms Sarah Groarke:

To add to what the Ombudsman for Children has said, we are in favour of upholding a prohibition on commercial surrogacy domestically with a view to preventing the risk of the sale of children. We cannot regulate what happens in another jurisdiction and whether that jurisdiction prohibits commercial surrogacy but we can regulate to ensure that, once children are brought home to their parents in Ireland, their best interests are the paramount consideration in determining what happens to them. This is not only to provide clarity for those children and their families but is also mandated by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and, more importantly, by the European Convention on Human Rights.