David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is complex legislation. This amended version of it is lengthy and covers many areas. I have in the past commended the Minister's officials on the work they have done. It has been phenomenal but we will get to that later as we conclude the Bill. In all the exchanges we had with the officials and the Minister on many issues, the Minister always said the best interests of the child have to come first. Everybody accepts that. That has always been the starting point when looking at these issues. There are rights the intending parents have and that the surrogate mother has, so there are lots of competing rights, but of paramount importance must be the rights of the child.

Deputy Shortall referenced the children's ombudsman's comments and those of the special rapporteur. I read those in advance of the session, particularly the ombudsman's view, which is very compelling. I would be minded to support the amendment. It seeks to insert "Best interest of the child" sections and references to place the best interests of the child as the paramount concern of the court in any proceedings. That is safe, logical and the right thing to do. If the Minister is not accepting the amendments, I would be interested to hear why not. Is it that the advice is that the best interests of the child are already protected and this is unnecessary or is there some other reason? We did not really get an answer to that in any of the sessions so far. I will make up my mind based on the Minister's response to the amendments.

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