Mr. Gearóid Kenny Moore:

I wish to thank everybody for giving us the opportunity to speak. We, Irish Families Through Surrogacy and Equality for Children, are groups that were set up as entirely volunteer-led organisations to raise the profile of our families and to get this issue resolved. For us, getting this opportunity to tell our stories in this format and forum is greatly appreciated. As a group we work very hard. We are all full-time parents and many of us have full-time jobs. We do a great deal of work late at night, exchanging emails and making calls well after 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. We would greatly appreciate any support that the committee could offer us in furthering our cause.

I would like to ask one short question of Professor O’Mahony, if that was possible, on an issue that was raised by Senator Seery Kearney on retrospective provisions for children already born. He has already clarified that identity and donor information will not be a criterion for retrospective recognition to be applied but will any other criteria apply? What about the children who were born abroad to Irish parents who only ever come here on holidays? Will they be recognised? What about the children who are now aged 18 years or over? Will there be an opportunity for them to be able to establish a legal connection with their parents? Is it the case that any children who were conceived before a certain date will automatically get their retrospective allocation of links to their parents, regardless of the conception method, the location of their birth etc? I think it would be beneficial to have a short input from Professor O’Mahony, and from anyone else who is willing to make a contribution, just that we might understand how that retrospective piece might work.