Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will hold on to the words "in the coming weeks". I am aware from my own sources - and to be fair, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is in regular touch with me as well - that that is actually faithful. I want to puncture one misleading piece in all this. We are not putting in a piece of legislation that has extrajudicial impact. We are saying if an Irish couple is going to pursue surrogacy expecting the support of the State, including an Irish passport and the right to both parents in this State to have lifelong relationships with the child and not to be criminally prosecuted, then they must conform to this set of principles. If people go outside that and engage in unethical acts there should be criminal prosecution, because I believe very strongly it should be about the right thing. One has to look that child in the eye. This is a human being's story, so it has to be ethical and it has to be all those things. We are saying people must conform to this set of principles if they are going to avail of opportunities in the State, not that we are legislating for what happens abroad. We are saying what happens abroad must conform to this or else it is not going to happen. I am very optimistic we will have captured all that. The Chair of the surrogacy committee worked alongside me and others to very much hold to that idea and to the international Verona principles that enshrine all these things, including ensuring a child's right to their identity, ensuring there is no human trafficking element and ensuring the dignity of the human being is respected throughout.I have no doubt that the Minister will bring this forward in a couple of weeks. That will go down very well in the surrogacy community.