Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad I got here in time to ask a question, as I was listening online. I thank Ms de Boer-Buquicchio very much for being here, for the document she sent us, and for her presentation. They have been very helpful.

I really agree with what she says about prohibition not being the answer. That is one of the key points. If we make something totally illegal, we are not living in the reality of the modern world we live in nowadays. It is important that the message goes out that what needs to happen is good, robust, strong legislation and regulation so that there are proper practices and that we will not have the exploitation of either women or children.

Some of the questions I was going to ask have already been asked. I want to ask about the pre-birth versus post-birth parentage situation. Personally, I think it is better to have a pre-birth model because for the child there is no question mark over who the parent is. We heard a few examples of where children were born prematurely and they needed medical intervention. That situation can be difficult if there is any sort of question mark over who is the legal guardian or parent who makes those decisions.

Many surrogate mothers do not see themselves at all as the mother and are very clear about that. It kind of protects them as well. The example Ms de Boer-Buquicchio gave of a seven-day cooling off period, for want of a better phrase, potentially is a possible solution to that. Could she expand a bit more on that, also bearing in mind that, as I said, surrogate mothers in many cases do not see their role outside? They do not see themselves involved. There is no genetic link in many cases. We need to respect that too.