Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Before I start, I welcome Cathy Wheatley from the Irish Families Through Surrogacy and Ivana Holub, who is a surrogate and who gave evidence before the Joint Committee on International Surrogacy. They are very welcome. I know this is a very big day for them.

I thank the Minister, for his run-through of the Bill but mainly for prioritising this issue since he came into office four years ago. Something that I and my colleagues - I see Senator Ardagh sitting behind me there - have been passionate about is providing a publicly funded IVF scheme. It is groundbreaking, as the Minister said in his introductory speech. It is the result of engagement. It is a tribute to the Minister that he has engaged with people across parties here in both Houses of the Oireachtas, special interest groups, medics and academics. It is great that we have the Bill before us today.

There is great urgency attaching to this Bill. We need to get this through. We need to deliver for people, in particular, who are waiting for publicly funded IVF. This is their last shot at parenthood and we need to give it to them.

We have other families who do not have full parental rights. Children are suffering. Their mums and dads are suffering. There is no certainty and we are putting them into a very precarious position if we do not progress this legislation with urgency. I am glad to hear of the special arrangements that the Minister has to tie up some other issues at a separate date. Let us move forward with what we have, take people out of limbo, give people clarity and peace of mind, and have a modern robust humane system of assisted human reproduction in this country.

I was struck in the recent local and European election campaigns by the number of candidates referring to the low rates of fertility in Ireland and suggesting that Irish women are not breeding enough. There is certainly pressure on from far-right elements in this country to remove reproductive choice from women and it is something we should resist with all our might. We have come an awfully long way in this country in recent years and I will not stand here and give in to any far-right elements who are trying to remove choice from women.We should be giving extra choice, helping and assisting families to have the number of children they want to have. This is about families across the spectrum, including LGBT families and single parent families. We need to be assisting people and families. All studies have shown that the majority of women do not end up having the number of children they actually desire, through one reason or another including whether they have not been able to access IVF supports in a timely fashion, they have not been able to afford it, or they have not been able to access surrogacy. We should be supporting families and allowing more reproductive choice. I am really glad that throughout this Bill the Minister has done that, resisting calls to remove choice from families, thus giving more choice to them, and allowing people to become parents. That is a positive and progressive step for this country and for those individual families. Let us not set women back generations and remove choice. Let us give more choice.

I welcome the Bill. I hope we will have a positive, constructive, sensitive and respectful debate. There are families that are so emotionally attached to this work we are doing. The fundamentals of those families are being impacted by this legislation. Words matter and sentiments matter. Let us not try to get some clickbait material from this debate. Let us think about the children and the families who are depending on a respectful debate, depending on this regulatory framework, and depending on progress in this country. I commend the Minister on all the work he has done. Now let us get on and do our work as quickly as possible, as thoroughly as possible and as respectfully as possible.