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

I thank the Chair. I was not expecting to be first. That is the danger of not checking the speaking rota.

First, I thank everybody for their contributions, and Mr. Vaughn and Ms Wasser, who are joining us through Teams and who, I am sure, with the time difference, had an early start as well.

I had a number of questions for Ms Hickey and then she answered most of them in her opening statement. I still have a few questions, the first of which is for Ms Hickey.

Ms Hickey gave a helpful list of recommendations which is great for us. Afterwards, when we are drafting our report, it will be good to be able to look through it like that. In terms of the retrospective recognition, one of my questions to Ms Hickey was whether international surrogacy should be included in the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022. Ms Hickey made that point clearly in her opening statement and there is no need for me to ask that. Is there anything else we should be doing or looking at in relation to retrospection? Should it be included in our recommendations and, hopefully, in the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022, or is there something else that we should be looking at in the interim? I am conscious of all of the children out there who are currently in limbo. Ms Hickey deals with that on a regular basis.

My other question is to seek her opinion. I might ask Ms Wasser this too. In Canada, they accept the Ukrainian decision on parentage. What are Ms Hickey's views on that in relation to Ireland? Do we need to have our own regulations in place first?

Will I allow Ms Hickey to respond or will I ask all my questions together?