Mr. Colm McGennis:

There are a number of undertakings that intending parents and surrogates have to give as part of the application process in the first place. One of those is that the surrogate will, as soon as possible after the birth, agree to the guardianship for the two intending parents. Those intending parents, on the other hand, have to give undertakings about caring for the child after birth and we have provision that the AHRRA can seek instruction from the courts if it believes those undertakings have not been adhered to.

A lot of it comes down to the unenforceability of these surrogacy agreements in line with the Verona Principles, which are also strong on the surrogate mother having a cooling-off period, for want of a better term, after birth and before the parental order would be granted. There is a right for the surrogate mother to change her mind.