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

It is great to have three Ministers present for this important debate. I served as the Vice Chair of the joint committee. I thank our Chair, Deputy Whitmore, all our members, witnesses, the clerks and officials and the legal experts who guided us through the process. We were given just three months to look at this issue, and that was because of the urgency of it. The question we are left with is where is has that urgency gone. It was great to hear the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, talk about July, because it was last July our committee published that report. I can clearly remember that day because many of the people who are with us in the Gallery were on the plinth and there was many a tear shed. It was a day of pure, raw emotion.

It is a day I will always remember because it was the moment I saw exactly how much the work of our committee meant to people’s lives. For them this was going to change things but here we are nine months later, and for them nothing has changed.

Many of them are in the Gallery and their incredible advocate, campaigner and champion, Senator Seery Kearney, who had her daughter, Scarlett, through surrogacy, is in the Chamber. They are here with us because they are so enthused to hear the update and to hear about the commitment of this Government to deliver for them. These families have been through so much. For many of them, the road to surrogacy has been paved with false starts, heartache and tragedy. Some are same-sex couples, some are couples who have been through a fertility journey and some have recovered from illness. The one thing they all share is that their families have been denied basic rights by our State.

The time for action is now and it is welcome to hear the Minister's commitment for that action before July. That is the ask of Irish Families Through Surrogacy, it is the clear recommendation of our committee and it is also the advice of the High Court. We know the legislation is coming but the difficulty is with the interpretation of our report, specifically when it comes to prospective and retrospective surrogacy. I ask the Minister to engage with us and the committee members and to ask us about our views because in many of our views, that interpretation seems to be quite conservative and narrow. We need to get this right. I can best summarise the 32 recommendations contained in that report in two lines. First, international surrogacy needs to be recognised and regularised. Second, mothers and non-biological fathers need to have basic rights when it comes to their children.

If, when it comes to same-sex couples, the Department sets out legislation that amounts to prohibition by stealth, that would serve to undermine our work as a committee, it would effectively be rejecting many of our recommendations and it would undermine Ireland's spirit of inclusivity. That is the same spirit of inclusivity that underpinned the marriage equality referendum. Families in the Gallery and in communities like mine should not have to wait until the assisted human reproduction authority is established to get their due recognition and basic rights as parents. That can be done through family law applications and it can be done now, and it should not have to be done in the High Court either. This has to happen quickly, and not just because of the day-to-day and unnecessary hoops people are jumping through when it comes to things like school permission slips or medical appointments. It has to be done urgently because we know how dangerous and devastating the fallout can be in situations of family separation or tragedy.

Families like the ones we see in the Gallery have waited long enough; they need action. Couples considering surrogacy need clarity and that is our ask of the Minister.

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