Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have just put it to the Minister that there is a risk of the development of a surrogacy industry. We know the international context here. We heard what the Ukrainian situation is. Senator Seery Kearney does not like the language but the question is if what is said is true. That is more important than courtesy. There are human rights at stake here. There are people being violated and exploited here. I know Senator Seery Kearney and the Minister do not accept that but that is the experience that cannot be denied.

I had a Zoom or MS Teams conference yesterday in which we heard from people who have been hurt by surrogacy, including a woman who made herself available for an altruistic surrogacy and who suffered in a way that she had not foreseen as a result of doing it. There are many silent victims of this. We also heard from a young woman who was brought to life through surrogacy; I am sure she is very happy to be alive but she disagrees with what is going on here and the way it impacts on people. It is wrong to dismiss them as the shrieking minority, so to speak, although those are not Senator Seery Kearney's words, of course. It is a form of denialism. There is international concern about this. This is novel. Greece is the only country that allows this. What we are proposing to say here is that if you must embrace the aspirations of people who want to bring children into the world through surrogacy, at least do your best to stop an industry developing with, as I said, foreign surrogates coming to Ireland to avail of the medical system.

It is too glib, frankly, for the Minister to say he sees no reason why he should. We know he is not for turning. We know he is captured, but he should at least try to give some sort of credible reason why. Given the mass exploitation of people on our Continent and worldwide, and the ferment and displacement brought about by the invasion of Ukraine and so many other factors, there are financially and otherwise vulnerable people who might be brought to the jurisdiction for this. I put it to the Minister that it is not enough to say he sees no reason why. This is a problematic reality that involves the exploitation of the poor.

By the way, if all of this is so good, why is it not possible just to get this done in Ireland using Irish citizens or to get it done in the EU using EU citizens? Why is it that you have to enable international surrogacy? The reason is that there are not enough poor people to exploit in Ireland and the EU.