Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister not accept the point I have made that there is now a splitting of motherhood or the concept of motherhood? For other purposes, it was assumed that the birth mother was the genetic and gestational mother. That is no longer the case in a situation of surrogacy. There is a distinction between the genetic mother and the gestational mother. The constitutional provision to which the Minister referred no longer applies and it is no longer necessary for such cases to be taken to the High Court. They can be dealt with perfectly adequately in the Circuit Court.

The Minister said today for the first time that cost will not be an issue. In that respect, that is a welcome announcement. However, there are other concerns. There is the whole question of access. For anybody who lives outside of Dublin, it is a considerable inconvenience and expense to get into the High Court. That is unnecessary. There is the question of access for individuals going to the High Court, or who have been forced to go to the High Court, as well as the other issue of there being a long waiting list to get into the High Court.

It seems like an unnecessary complexity is being added to this issue. For that reason, it would seem to make practical and all kinds of common sense to hear many of those cases in the Circuit Court. I do not understand why that is not happening. The only explanation seems to be the misconception about the constitutional provision that a gestational mother is assumed to be the genetic mother, which is not the case in relation to surrogacy.

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