Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak about recent information I have received on exploitation and the shortcomings of the new surrogacy legislation which was signed into law last year. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, I have made repeated freedom of information requests to the Department of Foreign Affairs. After three years, I have finally learned that, from January 2022 until today, 98 emergency travel certificates have been issued to children born in Ukraine as a result of surrogacy arrangements.

Despite assurances from the Government that new legislation would enforce ethical standards and curb exploitative practices on commercial surrogacy, some of the most vulnerable women on earth - Ukrainian women - are still being taken advantage of at the same rate as before. While we do not know the specifics, common sense dictates that surrogacy cases in war-torn, corrupt and impoverished countries can hardly be anything other than exploitation. How can this be anything other than a case of women being forced to rent out their wombs in poor desperation as bombs are falling around them? That is if commercial surrogacy can ever be non-exploitative and unethical in the first place. We certainly do not think it is in Ireland. We have banned commercial surrogacy in Ireland. We protect Irish women from being exploited and prevent people from exploiting them but then we think it is fine for our people to rent the wombs of women in other countries, in war-ravaged countries. It is beyond me how this Government can find this even remotely acceptable and allows this outrageous exploitation to continue.