Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Before the Chair of the Joint Committee of International Surrogacy, Deputy Whitmore, makes her closing remarks, I will contribute briefly to the debate. First, I thank Deputy Whitmore for her fine work in chairing the committee and also the Vice-Chair of the committee, Deputy Higgins, and all the members. I give a special mention to Senator Mary Seery-Kearney for her work, her openness and her lived experience. It is so important that we listen. I also welcome all the families present and thank them for their lived experience, their advocacy and their journeys. As Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, I am acutely conscious of the emotional distress and the challenges they all went through as they travelled their own journeys.

Questions were asked and there will be ample time on Committee Stage, and subsequent Stages, of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 to go into detail on the specific provisions contained within it. On a broader level, it is clear the vast majority of the committee's recommendations have been taken on board and this will be reflected in the amended Bill. Specifically, the legislation will provide for a pre-conceptual approval model and the payment of reasonable expenses only to surrogates, and both these proposals will be in line with what is proposed in the final report. It will also provide a pathway to full parental recognition for the second parent in past surrogacy arrangements. I understand that this is the crucial new part of the Bill for most of the people in the Public Gallery and their families, as well as many others across the country and who may be watching now.

On behalf of the Ministers for Health, Justice, Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Minister without Portfolio, Deputy Helen McEntee, and myself, I again thank the Chair and members of the joint committee for their work. They have made a significant contribution to the development of what will prove to be internationally-trailblazing legislation. The Deputy is quite right that it is great to see such consensus in the room, such a warm feeling here and to know that children and their parents all over the country are on this final pathway to being recognised.

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