Mary Henry (Independent)

——which is the subject of the first part of the Government amendment. I do not like the Legislature being totally influenced by the courts. I like us to have a fair amount of influence on it and was looking forward to Committee Stage. We need to be careful that in protecting marriage we are not letting the family down. There are an enormous number of different family types in Ireland. I think particularly of the position of children because same sex couples who may, as others have said, have had children in a previous heterosexual relationship are in a terrible position given that they cannot adopt or have guardianship or custody of that child. This is a really difficult situation because if something happens to the biological parent what is the position regarding that child? Perhaps the Minister would address the issue of such couples who have had children by a surrogate mother because that is far more widespread than one would think.