Clear and urgent timeline needed for international surrogacy legislation – Seery-Kearney

A clear and urgent timeline for international surrogacy legislation is needed, a Fine Gael senator has said.

Seanad Spokesperson on Children, Disability, Equality, Integration & Youth, Mary Seery-Kearney, said time is of the essence for families relying on the promised legislation to regularise their legal relationship with their children.

Speaking in the Seanad this morning, Senator Seery-Kearney said: “Second parents are left in very vulnerable positions, relying on the kindness of strangers to allow them make decisions about their own children, or having to produce proof of court orders to enable them to prove they have the authority to make simple decisions.

“Just this past week, I was obliged to produce the district court order to demonstrate that I am my child’s guardian and custodian in the context of a simple data request, her birth certificate was not sufficient.

“This then obliged me to explain that while I had a court order, that didn’t mean my marriage had broken down, it was just a necessity of the lack of legal regulation for the mother/child relationship where children are born via surrogacy.”

Senator Seery-Kearney continued: “Mine is a happy story, however, there are second parents in Ireland where their relationship has broken down and they do not have guardianship and custody of their child.

“They are reliant on the ‘goodness’ of former partners to be allowed access and custody of their children.

“Where situations are acrimonious, this power imbalance can be leveraged, and children can be weaponised in a way that could advance the position of the biological father.

“Between myself and Irish Families Through Surrogacy, we know of ten situations where this has been the case.

“I provide support to some of these second parents. Time is of the essence for these families, the Government needs to legislate with a sense of urgency – we need to see the surrogacy amendments in the health select committee before Easter,” Senator Seery-Kearney concluded.

ENDS