Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The point at issue is maturity. Senator Norris has mentioned more than once in this debate that it is a blob of sperm and we should get over it. Where the blob of sperm is put is what is important. The sperm has all the DNA to allow one to become a father. There is a fair bit of responsibility attached to that. One must give due deference to the young people who may be enticed to donate. In other countries there are advertisements such as "Your country needs you" and "Save the human race". Young people are made to feel that they are doing something brilliant. Let us at least allow them to become mature. I do not intend to say what age is the right age but 18 is very young. If being 21 makes a difference then we should look at increasing the age of consent to 21. As I indicated when we discussed the matter last week, on the other side of the coin the mother who would carry the donated embryo is expected to be 21. We should level the playing field.