Calls made for surrogacy legislation

Reaction:Legislation on surrogacy should be introduced urgently following yesterday's landmark ruling in the High Court, child rapporteur Geoffrey Shannon has said.

The fact the case had come before the courts was a “failure of the Oireachtas”.

“We can’t turn a blind eye to surrogacy; we need to make provision for it in law or make it illegal,” he said.

“Children should not be left in a legal limbo.”

He said a child born through surrogacy could potentially have five individuals involved with it: the surrogate mother, the commissioning mother, the egg donor, the commissioning father and the sperm donor.

Aspects of the law

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said he was preparing a new Bill that would address “certain aspects of the law on surrogacy” and he hoped to publish the Family Relationships and Children Bill later this year.

However, religious advocacy group the Iona Institute called on the Government to introduce legislation to prohibit surrogacy.

The National Infertility Support and Information Group welcomed the ruling and said it hoped progress could be made on regulating surrogacy, as recommended in the report of the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction in 2005.

Rights vindicated

A couple at the centre of the case have said their children’s rights have been vindicated by the High Court decision.

The couple had challenged a decision by the State that only the surrogate mother could be registered as the legal mother of the children.

Their solicitor, Marion Campbell, said it had been a very long, hard and emotional time for the couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

“It is hoped now that much-needed legislation in relation to this whole difficult area of surrogacy will be brought in and that children born by way of surrogacy arrangements will have their rights enshrined in such legislation,” she said.