Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment proposed by Senator Keogan on the Order of Business. Whereas I do not share many of the views expressed in this House on in vitro fertilisation and some aspects of surrogacy that some of the people in my group hold, it is important that we have a constructive debate. There should be no emotion, just simple discussion, because there are serious issues involved.

I received an email from Senator Mullen which raised an issue we should think about further. Will a single male person be in a position to enter into a surrogacy contract and have a child by surrogacy in circumstances where that person would not be considered a suitable person to adopt a child? That is a fundamental question. We are walking straight into that without considering the implications carefully.

Surrogacy is justifiable. As I said on previous occasions, I was involved in the only case concerning surrogacy which appeared in the Supreme Court and which was decided on other matters. Curtailing this debate without carefully thinking through all of the implications of what we are doing is wrong. The Bill would benefit from detailed consideration. It would be improved if we all listened to each other in a dispassionate and less emotional way.