Dr. Niall Muldoon:

It is crucial that we legislate. We have to move forward with this. Again, the idea of the Bill moving forward without regulating for international surrogacy and retrospective parental rights just cannot be fathomed. We need to prepare. We have children who are currently in that limbo and whose parents do not have full legal rights in respect of consent and various other issues, whether in the area of education, medicine or other matters. We need to prepare legislation for that as quickly as possible. That is why the preparations being talked about relate to pre-surrogacy arrangements. We should look at the process as starting as early as possible so that we know who is in charge and who will take what responsibilities and at what stage. We should also allow for a post-birth scenario. Should anybody change his or her mind, there must be some sort of a framework that allows for those disputes to be settled and for decisions to be made as quickly as possible, which is again for the benefit of the child.

The best interests of the child suggest that at no stage should he or she be left without somebody who has full parental rights who is willing to accept them. That is crucial in order that those children can be looked after in the best way possible. That is the legislation members, as legislators, need to bring forward so we can protect all those children. Regardless of where they are born and what the background is, when they come back to Ireland they should have the right that they deserve, and that every other child has, because it has been set out in a regulation in an appropriate manner. The best interests of the child are served that way. Again, for children in their current circumstances, we need to know we will look at the retrospective scenario so the legal limbo is taken away and there is clarity regarding who has rights in that regard.