Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I am taken by one of the points made by Senator Mullen on testamentary guardians. Perhaps there is some scope within it for a resolution of this issue. Issues surrounding children need to be addressed in their best interests; there should be no other agenda attached. In that regard, to underline the complexity of the matter to which the Minister referred, some time ago I chaired a meeting which a woman from England, Ms Joanna Rose, addressed. She was conceived with the aid of a sperm donor. Her father was a student who was a sperm donor and she estimated that she probably had some 300 siblings. There was a recent case in which a brother and sister married each other, not knowing they were siblings. We need to put in place significant safeguards in this regard.

I fundamentally disagree with Senator Bacik. If we are to hand over to a gay rights group responsibility for conducting studies on our behalf which we will accept as being independent - that is why I said any studies should be independent-----