Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not, no. Some of the issues raised include the status and rights of the birth mother, the status and rights of the intending parents, the entitlements of the intending parents, maternity leave, maternity pay, etc. Also, I do not think colleagues raised it, but it works in the opposite direction as well. What if we have a surrogate and intending parents, and some way through the pregnancy those intending parents say they have changed their mind or something catastrophic has happened in their own lives and they cannot. Have they any obligations or is the surrogate mother left with the child, which was not the intention? It is complex. There are significant differences between birth certificates at home and abroad because if children are born abroad, they get a birth certificate from abroad. We are trying to incorporate all of that into birth certificates at home.