Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Circumstances require me to leave the Chamber but I will try to be back to hear the Leader's response to what I want to raise.In any event, I will pay attention to it.

I want to raise a difficult issue that I do not like bringing up, to be frank, but which has to be spoken about. That is the plight of women in Ukraine who have been engaged to act as surrogates by Irish couples. These women are the birth mothers of Irish citizens and of children resident in Ireland. I think we should all agree that we need to extend every possible assistance to them and offer them shelter in their hour of need. I have been concerned that although the issue of Irish couples and children stranded in Ukraine has been raised regularly, it seems to me there has been precious little concern shown for the birth mothers. As I saw one journalist tweeting about it, these children did not materialise out of thin air. To her credit, I heard Senator Moynihan raise the plight of these women here last week, but unfortunately, the Minister for Foreign Affairs did not address her point on that occasion. I read last week that Rosanna Davison, whose child was born to a Ukrainian surrogate, has extended the hand of friendship to the birth mother of her child. She deserves credit for that. However, I would argue that the question arises as to whether other couples who have engaged a Ukrainian surrogate, either in the past or at present, have a moral duty to the birth mother of their children or whether there should indeed be a legal duty in these situations. The fact that these women were paid to act as surrogates does not absolve anyone of their moral, or, if we develop it, their legal duty to them, but in any event the State should extend every possible assistance to them at this difficult time. When these children reach adulthood, we need to be able to look them eye, should we ever meet them, and tell them that we did our best to protect the women who gave birth to them. In a broader sense, this highlights how we have no legislation in Ireland to protect vulnerable and poor women from possible exploitation or, indeed, from being abandoned or forgotten about, as women in Ukraine now are.

Surrogacy is a moral and ethical minefield. Countries such as Sweden ban all forms of it because it is viewed as inherently problematic given how it leads to women being taken advantage of and, indeed, children being treated as commodities. I share that view, although I acknowledge that it is a deeply personal and sensitive issue that demands respect in all our communications around it. There is a special Oireachtas committee being established to look into this area. I believe we should follow a similar course to Sweden and give serious consideration to that. I will try to contribute to that Oireachtas committee in one way or another. In the meantime, we, as a Seanad, need to speak about the issue openly and respectfully. We need to address urgently what I and others regard as our moral obligation to women in Ukraine whose lives may be in danger.