Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It goes without saying that this legislation is welcome. It is a move in the right direction and long overdue. Assisted human reproduction is an area that badly needs a regulatory authority. That one will now be put in place is welcome.

For many years, I have been in contact with a number of people who have experienced fertility issues. They have gone through considerable anguish and problems and incurred great expense. In some cases, it was all for nothing at the end of it. It is a difficult and torturous process. Anything that can be done to ensure better outcomes and journeys for these individuals is something that all of us should try to achieve.

Surrogacy is a key issue that needs to be addressed. I welcome the new committee, which I understand met for the first time today. It has a large volume of valuable work to do to try to unlock a difficult and complex area. I understand that this Bill will deal with non-commercial surrogacy in Ireland but will not recognise anything beyond that. For many families in this country that now have children who were born to surrogates in other countries, particularly Ukraine, achieving recognition and trying to find a way through the crossword puzzle that has been put in front of them is poses a difficult situation. If we try to find a way to accommodate their right to parentage, it poses another problem because how can we have one child with that right now but another who is born in similar circumstances in the future without it?

In fairness to the parents in such situations and who are lobbying to see a change that should rightfully happen, they recognise that there is no simple or easy fix. This is a difficult area for us to work through. If possible, the Dáil should do this necessary work as co-operatively as possible. We all need to work together and try to use every possible means to devise solutions that will fix this problem for the mothers and fathers of young people who, having been born to surrogates abroad, are now growing up in our schools and will one day be our country's future. We also need to find a way of dealing with this issue for others in similar circumstances who will work through non-commercial surrogacies in this country.

Clearly, this issue will not be sorted out quickly. Instead, it will develop and evolve as we move forward. This Bill and the related moves are welcome, but we have a long way to go.

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