Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 43:

In page 29, after line 38, to insert the following:“(9) (a) The operator of a DAHR facility commits an offence if he or she makes or permits to be made an appointment or any other arrangement for or on behalf of an intending parent or parents with a person or facility that provides anonymous gamete donation services outside the State.

(b) A person who commits an offence under this subsection is liable—

(i) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, and

(ii) on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €70,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or both.”.

This amendment is in a totally different spirit. It is not like the libertarian amendment about which Members have just heard, which to my mind would again completely disregard the demands of a child's dignity. I do not know if the following words ring a bell with the Minister:

Now if my wife is my grandmother, then I'm her grandchild

And every time I think of it, it nearly drives me wild

'Cause now I have become the strangest 'case you ever saw

As husband of my grandmother, I am my own grandpa

This was a song made famous by Brendan Grace and a number of others some years ago. It says a lot about the strangeness of this legislation that there are aspects both of what it contains and what it omits that bring this crazy scenario to mind. The Minister may remember the lines:

It sounds funny, I know but it really is so

I'm my own grandpa

What was set out in a humorous song becomes vaguely possible in the light of the provisions of this legislation.