Seanad debates

Thursday, 26 March 2015

Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Rónán MullenRónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

She should be a lot closer to the side of the argument that Senator Quinn and I have been trying to advance this afternoon. It leads me to think that sometimes, Members get fixed views about one another's position. They acquire fixed views or perhaps may suspect the motives of those who propose something that is not that far away from what they themselves think in their minds and hearts. In other amendments, I certainly have been trying to advance the idea that this relationship does matter. Senator Power and others have been eloquent and assiduous in trying to make contact with their birth mothers or to find out more about who they are. Why? It is because it matters deeply.

The only fault I find with what Senator Power has proposed is she is adopting an altogether too limited approach to trying to vindicate what really matters to a child in this circumstance. While this is a step in the right direction, unfortunately it is only a baby step in a context in which Members are allowing all these procedures that really treat the children and the gametes in question as a commodity in the way that Senator Norris described. He sees the gametes in question as a commodity, whereas it is quite clear from the amendment she has tabled, Senator Power sees it completely differently. Perhaps she and I should have had further and other conversations well in advance of this Bill.

My point is that Members should follow the logic of what she is proposing here. If it matters so much, and it does, there will be a future for these children in which they will want to know more about themselves. Moreover, it will not be consoling to them to discover they were brought into existence and that in one case, their genetic parent supplied that gamete perhaps for the price of a few drinks, because that is the reality of what has gone on. I have a case to mention and will do so on Report Stage. I say "Fair play" to Senator Power for bringing forward this amendment. I wish she had gone a great deal further. However, I give full credit for this amendment and I will support it.

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