Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would be delighted to; however, Senator Seery Kearney was allowed to expatiate at length, not just once but twice, as I pointed out before the Chair came in. I am not going to stand for being the one who is constantly interrupted and asked to stick to the amendment. I am very clearly replying to what the Minister said, and I will do so. Okay?

The first and obvious error the Minister made was to suggest I had mocked the people in the Gallery. Far from it, I had expressed disquiet at their behaviour. It is not the practice in here to allow visitors in the Public Gallery to make noise or express approval or disapproval, or to try to intimidate or influence Members in the discharge of their duties. That is a clearly established rule, not just in this House but also in the Dáil.

I understand why people might be annoyed at me. I am certainly far from mocking them. As I said earlier, I feel great sympathy for them regarding the position in which they have found themselves; however, I disagree with surrogacy. I disagree especially with international surrogacy and believe it breaches human rights. That is the reason. Therefore, I reserve my right to say, as I did, that this is not some place of public entertainment where people can make noise in response to things they like or do not like, or express horror or emotion. That is not what this House is for, and it might be no harm if Members here, not just visitors, remembered that as well.

Whether one is a champion of women’s rights is very much in the eye of the beholder, but I can say to the Minister that I have always been clear about two things that I honestly believe based on evidence, namely that every child has a right to live from the moment he or she is brought into being at conception and that every child has a right to be brought up, insofar as possible, by a father and mother, preferably his or her own. Those two principles have guided my public life and public advocacy on these matters. The Minister may seek to demonise them as coming from some kind of controlling mentality or fixation on other people’s bodies, but these intervals are well understood by people of all faiths and none and by people of humanitarian good-will, intent and practice, all over the world. In fact, these principles reflected the standard human understanding of things up to a few decades ago. Given that I challenge the mores of the times and legal developments that deprive some children of their right to their very existence, and because I challenge ways of bringing children into being that deprive them of things to which they should be seen as having a right, I will not be told that I am an enemy of women’s rights. In fact, what surprises me-----