Children's Committee to discuss international and domestic surrogacy with representatives

The meeting will take place in Committee Room 4 of Leinster House between 3-6pm.

The following representatives are due to attend the meeting.

·        Conor O’Mahony, Special Rapporteur for Child Protection

·        Dr Lydia Bracken, University of Limerick

·        Representatives from Irish Families Through Surrogacy, Ciara Merrigan and Cathy Wheatley

·        Representatives from Equality for Children, Elaine Cohalan and Gearoid Kenny Moore

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Committee Cathaoirleach Deputy Kathleen Funchion said:

“The Committee welcomes the opportunity to discuss the rights of the child in relation to surrogacy. This is a timely meeting as it comes in the wake of an Oireachtas Committee being set up to examine international surrogacy in greater detail later this year.”

“As it stands, surrogacy is entirely unregulated in Irish law and we do not have a framework in place to address the issue of the rights of the child in this scenario.”

“In March 2021, the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Conor O’Mahony to published a review of children’s rights and best interests in the context of surrogacy and donor assisted human production so we look forward to hearing his insights and learnings from the report.

The Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth has 14 Members, nine from the Dáil and five from the Seanad.

The meeting in Committee Room 4 can be viewed live on Oireachtas.ie.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.