Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We come back to the fact that by focusing on the best interests of the child, we recognise that there are cases such as the one we heard about from Dr. Gamble, where even in altruistic situations - it is referenced in the submission - there can be coercion and exploitation, such as, for example, an obligation on a sibling to carry a child. We need to be alive to that possibility. Parents carrying out due diligence will look to a future of some day having a rational – or perhaps irrational – teenager, and there will be a heap of things thrown up, even if they have disclosure from pre-birth all the way through. There will be things thrown up and parents want to be able to answer those questions and want the child’s history to be the most ethical one possible. They do not want a story that involves an element of coercion or exploitation. That is recognising that parent after parent has come in and said that they do not want that association for their child. This is their child’s story at the end of the day. It is the child’s life and being.