Results 1,161-1,180 of 1,880 for speaker:Sharon Keogan

Seanad: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Second Stage (10 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: The Minister is very welcome to the House. I welcome this Bill. It is prudent that we examine our financial status in the wake of Covid-19 and seek to "put the debt ratio on a downward path", as the Minister told the Dáil last week. The Bill comprises a number of assorted financial measures and tweaks. A miscellaneous Bill always affords a useful opportunity to deal with multiple...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: Hear, hear. I am calling for a debate on the World Health Organization pandemic treaty and its implications for Ireland's future freedoms and autonomy in responding to a health crisis, as well as the European Parliament's attitude towards a joint armed force and its implications for our time-honoured neutrality. We need to be talking about the big-picture stuff in this Chamber. We do help...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: I thank the witnesses for coming in again. Ms Duffy is from the legal side of this. Can she give me a step-by-step breakdown of the process? When somebody comes to her, what happens? How many people has she assisted over the years? What are the legal costs around the service?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: Would Ms Duffy have access to those agreements?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: For me, surrogacy primarily focuses on the needs of the adults rather than the rights and needs of the child and Ms Duffy put it eloquently earlier in mentioning what happens when the relationship breaks down. What is Ms Duffy's view on step-parent adoption as a process or a route to parentage in some international surrogacy cases? Is that a better way?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: A better way than what we are proposing. Here, they do not want to have the surrogate mother on the birth certificate. They would prefer not to but I would prefer to have the surrogate mother on the certificate. There is a will here not to have her named on the birth certificate. I am asking if a step-parent adoption would be a route to parentage in some international surrogacy cases.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: It is provided for already under the Adoption Act.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: Absolutely, yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: While also protecting the true identity of the mother-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: Is Ms Duffy familiar with the Spanish High Court case in April last, relating to a Mexican surrogate?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: The court declared that adoption was the better option for protecting the best interests of the child.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: Does Ms Bonnie think it is right that the parent gets the right to walk away from the contract?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: No, I am not questioning Ms Bonnie's ability.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: Perhaps Ms Duffy might be able to give me her view about surrogate parents walking away from a child, as has happened in a number of jurisdictions, where the child may not have been of the right gender or may have been disabled. For instance, there was a case in Australia of a child who had Down's syndrome where the parent walked away from the child. What is Ms Duffy's view on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: Can Ms Duffy give specifics about where this has happened?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: Fine. I have never heard of that happen but that is okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: Ms Bonnie may be able to answer this. The issues I have are ethical. One is the exploitation of women and children. What happens when parents refuse a child due to disability or where children are abandoned because of gender? This has happened in the countries which have surrogacy, whether Thailand, India, Australia, America or the UK. Maybe one twin is taken and the other is not. What...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: I have been very touched by the testimonies here today. There is no doubt that the road to parenthood has not been easy for any of the witnesses. The stories that I have heard today are heartbreaking - having a stillborn baby, losing the baby, being unable to give birth and then being denied the chance to adopt, which is really awful, considering that there are 140 million children in this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Issues relating to International Surrogacy Arrangements and Achieving Parental Recognition: Discussion (Resumed) (5 May 2022)

Sharon Keogan: You meant it.