Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to debate this Bill today. It has been a long time coming for an awful lot of families. I will begin by acknowledging the service that Ukrainian surrogates have provided for many Irish families. An estimated 400 Ukrainian women have given birth to Irish surrogate children, with 46 Irish surrogate babies born in Ukraine in the past year alone. At least four Irish surrogate babies have been born in a hospital in Kyiv since the outbreak of the war, and we know a number of other babies are due to be born for Irish parents in the coming months through surrogacy in Ukraine. It is an especially terrifying time for those Irish families and their Ukrainian surrogates and their families.

The tragedy of the situation in Ukraine emphasises why this legislation we are debating today is so crucially important. We do not have laws around commercial surrogacy. Ireland is one of the only European countries without any form of specific regulation around assisted human reproduction. The lack of legal footing leaves parents and surrogates in limbo especially in situations such as the current war in Ukraine. Offers have been made to many Ukrainian surrogates to come to Ireland but Irish Families Through Surrogacy has reported surrogate mothers being afraid to accept offers to come to Ireland in case their name ends up on the birth certificate after the baby is born here, in case they become legally responsible for that child, which is obviously an unacceptable situation for both parents and the surrogates.

As I said, this legislation has been a long time in coming and I give huge credit to the parents, families and organisations such as Irish Families Through Surrogacy, which have kept this matter on the political agenda. They have campaigned tirelessly. They have stood outside this building, and I have stood with them, and they have shared their private stories ever so publicly. I acknowledge all the work my Fine Gael colleague, Senator Seery Kearney, has done in this space for her leadership and advocacy for parents through surrogacy. The irony is that many men, women and couples who I have met have already completed their families. They have gone through the struggle of infertility, of IVF and of surrogacy, yet here they are fighting to be legally recognised as their children's rightful parents. They are also fighting to improve the process for future parents who will embark on these journeys, and I believe that is really quite selfless.

I welcome that the Bill will put Irish surrogacy on a legal footing and will make the dream of starting a family more achievable for many people. Sending people abroad for a service that we do not offer in Ireland sends a twisted message that is somehow wrong, however, it is anything but. We should be celebrating the advances in science and medicine, and the advances in society that allow us to create families in all kinds of ways. The fact that we are now legislating for assisted human reproduction is exciting and is something I am very proud we are doing in the Oireachtas.

I am a proud member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on International Surrogacy and we had our first meeting today. I look forward to the work ahead of us in considering and making recommendations on the measures to address issues arising from international surrogacy. It is important that this committee has been formed and that it has been given such a wide-reaching and important agenda, yet such a specific timeframe to do our work. I know that all members are extremely dedicated to improving the experience of international surrogacy for all parents, children and surrogates concerned. With that said, we are asking the Minister of State to consider holding off on bringing this legislation to Committee Stage until the Joint Committee on International Surrogacy has concluded its work in order that it can be incorporated into the Bill.

We will be writing formally to the Minister of State to request this.

I appreciate that there are considered challenges with making this legislation work retrospectively, but I feel we must address the guardianship issue for parents who have already availed of instructional surrogacy. It is such a long difficult road for these families. When they are out the other side of it and have their babies, they enter into a whole new arena of identity complications. There are biological parents who have no legal rights over their child, cannot legally advocate or sign for them in medical situations and cannot even sign school permission slips. There are fears about what will happen if the relationship between a mother and the biological father of a child born through surrogacy breaks down. In this situation, there is, sadly, potential for a mother's lack of parental status to be weaponised against her and her child. While I hugely welcome that we are finally moving to establish surrogacy laws of our own, it is so important that we do not leave the parents and children who have already gone through international surrogacy in the dark. We cannot and I do not believe we want to forget about them.

As I said, apart from that is a more challenging situation for which to legislate. I accept that but it can, of course, be overcome. I know the Minister of State and all Government parties are committed to finding a solution to this. The report that was published last March by the special rapporteur on child protection, Professor Conor O'Mahony, contains excellent work on how we can develop a pathway to legislate for international surrogacy. I am really looking forward to working more on this at the joint committee and to presenting our recommendations to the Minister of State.

It is important to acknowledge the role this Bill will play in terms of access to IVF. Regulating treatments like IVF is something we should have done a really long time ago. Many couples throughout this country struggle to conceive. Many people feel that their families are incomplete without a baby and for so many of them, IVF will make their dreams come true. Regulating that and allowing better access - I believe the plan is eventually to allow for more public access to IVF - is so important for so many couples who otherwise may not have the option of having a baby.

I thank the Minister of State for all the work she is doing in this area. I know she is doing much work along with officials from the Department of Health. I wish her well on this journey. I also give our support do what she is trying to do and achieve in this Bill. I ask her not to forget the surrogates to whom I refer.

See this speech in context