Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was going to come back in on the retrospective question but the Vice Chairman asked eloquently about that issue and received eloquent answers.

The spectre of commercial surrogacy arises. I know what I mean when I use that term. I know where I draw the line between commercial and compensated surrogacy. Domestic surrogacy is a compensated surrogacy because there is provision for childcare and all the things that should be attendant to a surrogate mother on this journey. However, there is no internationally accepted definition.

One of my concerns is that in the conversation relating to commercial surrogacy, where places such as the US and Canada are the only ones that same-sex couples, in the main, can go to, if we either fail to define it or define it incorrectly, we will have a difficulty. If we rule out payment, say that there cannot be payment in any circumstances, ban it and introduce some sanction, the State will have difficulty finding a way to proceed. In such circumstances, we will be discriminating against children - children will be born regardless - and we will also close down the possibility of parentage for a number of same-sex couples. A question that arises in this regard relates to how we resolve the fact that there is not an internationally recognised definition. When the term is used, there is at times a drawing towards the most exploitative end of things. Nobody who is paying a fee in the context of surrogacy, which can be well over $100,000 in Canada, is contemplating exploitation. In fact, Canada is where there is a very good model for ensuring that nobody is exploited. I would welcome that perhaps we discuss for a little how we might overcome the concern I have outlined. How do we start grappling with this matter?