Ms Sharon O'Shea:

I thank the committee for inviting me to tell our family story. I carried my sister's baby out of an act of love eight years ago. My sister Marie was very sick as a child, spent much time in hospital and battled illness. In her teen years, she was told by doctors and the medical profession that her womb never develop properly to carry a child. Therefore, automatically, as a family, we spoke about this around our table and I told Marie that I would carry a baby for her by IVF if I was able to have children and if the timing was right. From that day, in my head that was the way it was going to be in our house. I was never forced, asked or pushed into doing anything. It was an automatic gesture of love for my sister, who fought hard to survive from an illness that she had from birth.

The years went by and luckily I married and went on to have two beautiful children of my own. Marie and John, in turn, married, and the time came when we spoke about them having a family, with me being her surrogate. Hopefully, it would work. Marie and John had a lot of work to do and plans to sort. There were many clinics, a lot of travelling, medication and injections for both of us. Our journey had started. It was definitely not an easy route for them. Marie and John created their own embryos which were transferred to me. To our delight, a positive pregnancy test meant that Marie and John were expecting their little baby. We had a positive test.

One day while I was carrying Marie's baby, a lady came to me and asked how I would ever give away my child. She did not understand, so I explained to her as I did to my own children at that time. When I asked them, in a way, if we would we help Marie and John have a family of their own, of course being kids, they said yes. We kept it simple for them. I told them that I was giving Marie and John somewhere safe for their baby to grow, because Marie could not do this herself. They understood this.

I can never imagine how hard it was for Marie to watch me carry her little baby. People said to me while I was carrying Lucy that I must have a very special bond with this baby, to which I would reply that it was Marie with whom I had the special bond. I was just babysitting for nine months, like any auntie would do. Thank God, Marie and John had a beautiful little girl eight years ago. All was well. We had Lucy by caesarian section. She was taken away with Marie and John and I met her back on the ward in her mammy's arms for the first time as a proud aunt.

We were discharged from the hospital and when the day came, we had to register Lucy's birth. I will never forget that day. I felt like a criminal, signing my name on a birth certificate with Marie's husband John. No questions were asked of him but this is what we had to do. We hugged and we cried, and it broke my heart. It was bittersweet. Marie now had her family but was not seen as mammy in the eyes of the law. Now, due to the lack of law, my own children have a sister on a birth certificate, which my family and I have no genetic link too. She is Marie's and John's daughter.

This time I was diagnosed with cancer. It gave me much time to think, and one of the things I thought about was Marie's story.

It was a special story. She was a fighter, but now I feel that I have to try to fight to ensure that Marie gets the legal rights that she and Lucy deserve. This is why I am here today. I thank the committee members for taking the time to hear our story, even though this was a brief description. I could speak all day about our family's story because there were so many ups and downs and ins and outs. We are here today, though, as one of the many families looking for the legal rights that Marie and Lucy deserve, and for me, as the surrogate, to not have any legal rights to Lucy. It is Marie who deserves these rights and not me.