Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is unlikely but in the case that it does happen, depending on the circumstances, if the child is already with the intending parents and they for some reason did not make an application for the parental order, the current laws would apply in terms of guardianship or parentage due to a genetic link but the other partner would not get the parental order, which is, of course, the entire purpose of the application. If an issue were to arise between the surrogate and the intending parents, that is a matter for the family courts, and it has been teased out at great length. If the child were abandoned, it would be a matter for the State to step in with State care, but it would also be up to the surrogate to raise the child. The surrogate would be recognised as the child's mother.

I will finish on this. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for banging his bell lightly. Regarding intending parents, I am a parent of three wonderful boys and all of us as parents make mistakes. We make mistakes all the time. We make mistakes every week. We try and we fail, and we try harder and we keep going. It is a bumpy, imperfect world but we endeavour to do our best for our children. We love our children. We would give our lives for our children so we do everything we can. Then the question has arisen about parents through surrogacy. Senator Seery Kearney has more eloquently than I could ever attempt embodied the passion, the love, the heartbreak and the struggle involved for parents through assisted human reproduction - it could be IVF - and then through surrogacy. It is a hugely difficult process. It consumes people's lives. It consumes their finances. While we all endeavour to be the very best of parents, having spent two years immersed in this and having had the great privilege of meeting with, listening to and learning from people involved in surrogacy, there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that these are some of the most loved and most cherished children in our nation.