Dr. Niall Muldoon:

-----for the domestic situation. We are looking at a situation where a child is born somewhere else and whether will we provide him or her with the rights if his or her intended parents are living in Ireland. From that point of view, we need to create a framework which allows that to happen. However, we also need to ask ourselves a series of questions as to what is in that framework. As the Senator said, there will be changes over the next ten years. Different methods of surrogacy will affect things. We have to future-proof it as well. The questions should be about what is in the best interest of the child. We need to figure out what questions we want to ask about how this came about. That is probably the way forward. As the Senator said, there will always be grey lines between what is compensated and what is commercial. There is no benefit to drawing it in a numerical way. We need look at the questions. That is where the court has to be very clear that it asks deep questions about how this came about. Again, if there is a very clear pre-surrogacy framework, then that suggests somebody is taking care of everybody involved. The level of money is not the only exploitation. You can be exploited in other ways, such as by means of intimidation. There are all sorts of other ways. It is important to make sure that the care is taken at all steps. From our point of view, it is about what is in the best interest of the child once they are born and that is the crucial part. They then come back to Ireland or their intended parents are living here. That is the crucial part. There is no safety or clarity.