Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The rights of the child have to be guarded every which way. That is important, especially when we are talking about more than one jurisdiction, whether that is the homeland of the surrogate mother or any of the participating bodies. It is not for discussion in this context, but the rights of the child are not always observed at present. In different situations the rights of the child are measured in a different way and it does not always follow that those rights are guarded. I am not going to discuss it in this context, but I have seen, as I am sure everybody else has, cases where the rights of the child were blatantly ignored, depending on what information was submitted at the time by experts, or so-called experts. It is a serious issue. That is all governed by the in camera rule, which ensures nobody ever knows except those directly involved. If that were to re-emerge in this context it could create difficulties of a very serious nature for all involved. As has been said before, the aspiring parents, the surrogate mother and all the parties involved have enough trauma to go through and enough sensitivities to deal with in the ordinary course of events without another issue emerging that might impact on the rights of the child. It is hugely important, therefore, that those rights are safeguarded rigidly and observed.