Ms Ciara Merrigan:

I echo what has been said about the surrogates. I and Cathy went through the process in Ukraine and we both have very good relationships with our surrogates. There is still ongoing contact on roughly a weekly basis at least. Obviously however, not everybody wants this from the surrogate, not every surrogate wants to keep in contact and not every intended parent wants to keep in contact with their surrogate either. What we believe is in the best interest of the child is that we try to keep up that relationship with our surrogate.

Percentage-wise, it was a question I asked the clinic I was dealing with in Ukraine. I was told approximately 40% of all parents keep in contact with their surrogate and have a good relationship, but it obviously has to be a consensual relationship. Again, at the beginning of this process you meet your surrogate and it can be a question and a conversation you can have at the beginning of the process, before you decide whether to move forward, to know and to get her feelings on that beforehand. It would be an important conversation to have.

There are not necessarily any advocacy groups in Ireland for surrogates at the moment. There are online forums for surrogates and for intended parents. In terms of our own group, we certainly have good contact with some surrogates domestically and internationally who would be very happy to speak to the committee on this matter. Internationally, they are following our campaign, watching it very closely and have been passing on their remarks. They are deeply offended in terms of media and things like that so they would be very happy to come and speak to the committee.