I thank the Minister very much. I know from Committee Stage in the Dáil that he went through a great and extensive explanation of the screening of anybody who applies for fertility and not just surrogacy. As I said last week, I had a problem where if suddenly one has a diagnosis of something which is going to bring a person into a territory of requiring fertility treatment, and then having to prove oneself as a parent, when that is not the case when one does not have a fertility issue. I would argue that it is disc…

It is relevant to the section. The fact of the matter is that there are enormous safeguards here. It does not stop the lies being told but there are enormous safeguards here and that needs to be underlined and highlighted. There is misinformation and disinformation going out from this House. It is not reasonable and it needs to be challenged.

We are talking about the safety of children, so let us remember the name of the heading of this section: "Safety of children". We are talking about the regulatory authority's oversight of any proposed surrogacy journeys. No embryo has been created at this stage. Nothing like that has happened at this stage when this level of screening of proposed parents occurs. So, it happens. I am not objecting to the section. I am not saying anything other than to note that just because you have a fertility issue should not put …

They are allowed have children as well.

There was an awful lot there. Individuals who are born without gender-specific characteristics, such as a uterus, know from a relatively young age that they do not have a uterus. A girl will probably find that out by her 14th birthday. I acknowledge that when this was raised last week, the Minister said it would be under review. I think he gave a little bit of latitude that at the three-year review, he is going to do that. However, at 21 it would be well established, for a woman in particular. Probably by the time …

-----that the children are only being reared by their biological parents. All sorts of thing constantly go on in society. Step-parents rear children. I have a blended family visiting the House today. Blended families work. They rear children all of the time. As such, to speak about it as being prejudicial to a child born of surrogacy is to deny the reality of what happens in the world where surrogacy is needed. Other things have been said about the parents. The allegation made to the Minister is that he has been ca…

It is because my motherhood and the motherhood of “these people” is such that we want our children to be equal, we want our humanity to be acknowledged and we want to become parents. We do not believe we have a right to it any more than anybody else, but we want to become parents. When we become parents, we have those responsibilities that come with parenthood, the responsibilities of care and keeping, loving and kindness and earning money to make sure they are fed and clothed, in exactly the same way as my colleag…

I thank the Minister, Pamela Carter, Edward Keegan, Colm McGuinness and their fourth official, who is unofficial, Lisa Cahill, who has done an extraordinary amount of work. I thank the Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris, former Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and especially the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. Most of all, I thank my husband and my beautiful daughter for whom I will go and get my parental order.

That is not true; that is false.

I welcome the Minister of State. As he is aware, we have problems across the country with apartment defects. More than 100,000 apartments are affected by defects and the Government announced a remediation scheme some time ago. While it has been slow in commencing, a portal was opened last December for submissions for interim funding as we await the Bill for the overall remediation scheme. The interim funding piece is for cases such as a block like Park West, which is being represented by Sam and Odette Doran of the…

The Minister of State is just the messenger but that is a wholly inadequate answe that does not reflect the lived experience. These are voluntary people on an OMC, people who live in apartments they have been told have defects and some of them got bills for €64,000. There are owner-management companies that are in bed with the suppliers and getting backhanders. All sorts of stuff is going on. They have inflated tendering processes and inadequate procurement processes. They are charging levies to owners and applying…

I support the suggestion that the Minister needs to engage with the Bar of Ireland. The rate of attrition from the Law Library is enormous. Very few criminal barristers survive beyond year six because the rate of pay is just so appallingly low. A person can sit all day, get briefed for one bail application and earn €25. It is not understood that a small number of barristers are paid incredibly well but the vast majority are not. On numerous occasions I have asked for statements in the House on the apartment defects…

I think I am in line for a Louis Vuitton for her 21st birthday or something like that. I am saving; I have saved for 21 years. I want to begin by paying enormous tribute to the Acting Leader. I am thrilled to see him as Acting Leader today. I missed the last day he was here. I am about to speak about the Oireachtas disability group, but I actually want to pay tribute to the fact that Senator Conway is an extraordinary example of what can be done and how an individual can overcome any of the impediments that are put…

I thank the Minister for his robust rejection of these amendments. I will go through all of them and point out the errors in their conception, if you pardon the pun. Amendment No. 1, which is based on the idea that parents entering into surrogacy should be on par with adoptive parents and meet the criteria for adoption, seeks to conflate surrogacy and adoption, which are different things in the journey to becoming a parent. It does not recognise that one or both will be the biological parents of the child. It fails…

It is Seery Kearney.

I am sorry but is this relevant?

I do not deny there is child sexual abuse. Not at all. I do not deny it. Arbour Hill Prison is where most of our sex offenders and rapists are held. I am curious, are we moving to make sure none of them ever fathers a child again? In the case of anybody who can in their full fertility have a child, what are we doing? Are we moving to a place where we think we have a right now to prescribe who can be a parent? I agree with the sentiment. Nobody who is convicted of child sexual abuse should be anywhere near a child b…

We are using the term "suboptimal", which is to presume there is a circumstance that is optimal. In Senator Mullen's proposition, optimal refers to a mother and a father. However, optimal also means not being born into poverty or having the opportunity of education and a whole heap of things. If we decide on what optimal is, are we then moving into a position of eugenics? Are we moving into a position by which we decide that whole swathes of our society should not have children because they have a fertility issue, …

In regard to the possibility, I want to give a piece of information to Senator Mullen about Nordic countries and donor gametes. The fact is that couples can have their own ethnicity, be that Asian or any other ethnicity, reflected in the choice of donor when they go into fertility services. There is a range here. Lest anything remain on the record of the House to imply that everybody is going for a particular racial profile, that is not what goes on actually. The services are offered, and the storage happens to be,…

Perhaps the Minister would like to answer those questions before I address my two amendments in this group.