Good morning everybody. We have received apologies from Deputies Higgins and Niamh Smyth.
Before we start, I have a few comments to make. This committee has been tasked with examining the issues surrounding international surrogacy, in particular the rights, interests and welfare of the children born through international surrogacy, the rights, interests and welfare of surrogate mothers, the rights, interests and obligations of intending parents in future international surrogacy arrangements, and the rights, interests and obligations of intending parents of existing children who have already been born through international surrogacy. Nobody in this room or looking in this morning online would understate the challenge of the task that we have been set as a committee. The issue of international surrogacy is legally complex. It is a socially complex and emotionally complex issue. There are many strongly held views about this topic and I believe that each of us has much to learn about the issue in general.
Our task as a committee is especially challenging because we have only three months in which to complete it. However, I believe that, as parliamentarians, we are privileged to be in a position to undertake this task and to grapple with an issue that many other countries have failed to address, but with that privilege comes a responsibility. Not only do we have a responsibility to thoroughly examine the issue, we have a responsibility to deal with this issue in a respectful manner. I would ask members to be mindful of the fact that many of the witnesses who we have invited in as a committee have been on very difficult and long journeys to get to this point. I ask, therefore, that our questioning be done in a respectful way and without causing hurt. I also ask that members treat each other with respect. I will not stand over name-calling or religious references in the chamber. I will also not allow, due to statutory prohibition, the discussion of matters in a public forum that arose from private meetings. I remind members that, as Cathaoirleach, I am the sole judge of order, that is, whether it is me, as Chair, or someone acting in the role of Chair. I thank Deputy Funchion for standing in for me last week.
Notwithstanding all of these challenges, I am confident that by working together we can produce a strong and robust set of recommendations for Government's consideration. I believe that each of us wants to do that as I believe that each of us on this committee does not wish to see the status quo continue. We have two months remaining in which to complete our report. I look forward to working with each of the members over those two months in order to facilitate a successful completion of the report and the task we have been set. I thank the members.