Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. O'Mahony. I am glad he has an opportunity to respond to the issues paper. It is only fair given that it comments on his comprehensive report. It is important to begin by stating Dr. O'Mahony office is on a statutory basis. He has a statutory responsibility to report to the Government on legislative effects that impact child protection. He was commissioned to engage on the report. I want to say this and park it. It establishes more than adequately his objective bona fides on this.

In his more comprehensive submission document Dr. O'Mahony quotes Mr. Justice O'Donnell in the more recent case of MR v.An t-Árd-Chláraitheoir. I emphasise that Mr. Justice O'Donnell is now the Chief Justice. In his judgment he stated:

It is surely most clearly and profoundly wrong from the point of children born through an unregulated process into a world where their status may be determined by happenstance, and where simple events such as registration for schools, attendance at a doctor, consent to medical treatment, acquisition of a passport and even joining sports teams may involve complications, embarrassment and the necessity for prior consultation with lawyers resulting in necessarily inconclusive advice....The need for legislation is even more urgent today.

We need legislation. We need a framework that works and protects the rights and interests of everybody in this, particularly with regard to the child and child protection. From what I can gather, and from what we can gather from what Dr. O'Mahony has said to us, is that we are looking at a framework that involves an initial threshold for parents that is assessed in Ireland when they are embarking on a surrogacy journey. This needs to be mandated or overseen by an authority or judicially. We need this threshold. We also need an oversight mechanism to safeguard the surrogate mother and ensure her consent. Ideally this would be done before a pregnancy begins. There should be guidelines that are overseen or checked. Into this would be added a body of knowledge from an authority with experience of the country and specific clinics within it.

Then we have a system of a baby born and judicial oversight of an application, perhaps for an interim parentage order until there is a full parentage hearing in the Irish courts when a baby comes home. Within that we need a bespoke change to citizenship requirements so it is not just the father's DNA but perhaps the mother's. That then opens up the possibility of same-sex female couples availing of surrogacy also. Is that more or less what we are looking at, in practical terms?