Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To respond to Senator Mullen's comments, I already have outlined earlier in the debate that I have some misgivings about donor-assisted human reproduction. However, I also accept it is a reality. I accept there now are many children who have been born through this process and who need to know who are the parents. Members cannot ignore this social reality and people deserve to have their situations clarified. On this as on many other issues, it is not a black-and-white absolute situation. It is extremely unfair to portray those who wish to use assisted human reproduction as being people who wish to commodify children.That is very unfair and very insulting language. Many of the people who conceive through this process go through years of pain, years of not being able to get pregnant and realising that their fertility difficulties can be addressed by going through clinics. By God, it is some effort they put in to having children compared with some people who get pregnant very easily. They spend years desperately trying to conceive a child and amazing parents they are.

I have sympathy with Senator Crown's view regarding people who, because of illnesses such as cancer, cannot naturally conceive and yet would make amazing parents. I remind Senator Mullen that this is not a black and white issue for me. I disagree as strongly with Senator Norris as I do with Senator Mullen on that. Like many social issues, it is not that straightforward.

Senator Norris spoke about this information. He sees it as a trivial thing. I will be upfront about this; I am influenced by my own background. It is difficult growing up for someone who is different from everybody else in the family and one cannot see any physical similarities. One does not understand where one gets one's gifts, skills or interests. We can have an argument about nature versus nurture. I have spoken to many other adopted people who, when they finally find their parents, discover that is where they get their musical gift or sporting interest. That is where they get certain aspects of their personality. One feels very lost growing up without that information.

It was stated earlier that a donor-conceived child's relationship will be with those who are assigned legal parentage. Of course, those are the people who will bring those children to their first day at school, look after them and bring them up. However, there is another aspect to the picture for a donor-conceived child or an adoptee, which is their genetic parentage. That is important and it is not to lessen the parentage provided by the people who bring up the child. It is just like an adoption situation, it is the parents who bring up the child, but there is another aspect of their personality to which they are entitled.

I would not belittle it in the way Senator Norris has done. I think this is the first time we have disagreed; we usually work together on many issues. There are sensitivities on both sides of this argument. It is wrong just to see it as a scientific or medical process and assume that people should just accept the circumstances into which they are born. They do not want to be left, as the Senator said, in blissful ignorance of having been donor-conceived at all without any opportunity to find out about their background.

Equally, I am concerned over the lack of sympathy from some others who use language such as "commodification of children". It is insulting and very unfair to the many fantastic people who have brought children into the world through this process. They are amazing parents and look after their children and care for them even though they had a very difficult pathway to parenthood. I just think that is equally wrong. That is fair enough on an issue like this. It is not black or white. It is a sensitive and emotional issue.

I reiterate to Senator Mullen that without this legislation there would be no regulation. The amendments that effectively oppose the Bill section by section would live us without regulation. The Senator is just ignoring the social reality, whereas I am accepting that the technology exists and is being used. We just need to do the best we can to protect people being born through this process to ensure they at least have to as much information as possible. I will be pushing the Minister on this issue because I do not believe the information that is being collected for the register is sufficient. The spirit behind these amendments is to ensure donor-conceived people are made aware their rights. Just opposing this on a point of principle and ignoring it because Senator Mullen does not accept it or agree with it will not help anybody.