In what is all too rare an occurrence, a senior Irish politician yesterday rejected the opportunity to engage in some international grandstanding – quite the opposite, they slapped international opinion in the face and said they weren’t interested.
As is very much in keeping with the Government’s track record, though, to this writer’s mind, on this occasion, they were entirely wrong to do so.
Imagine that.
Yesterday, in response to a parliamentary question from Carol Nolan TD about recent remarks by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls Reem Alsalem, who called for the recognition of surrogacy as a “system of violence, exploitation and abuse against women”, and called for its global abolition.
Deputy Nolan asked Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill if she was aware of that intervention, and if she would make a statement on the matter.
Cue the Minister for Health, who must have been feeling rebellious when – to cut to the heart of her response – she said, “I disagree with the central recommendation of the report, which is that ‘all forms of surrogacy’ should be prohibited”.
Disagreeing with the UN? Going against swelling international consensus? Are we, the best boys and girls in the class, allowed to do that, you might reasonably ask? Well, if Minister MacNeill’s response is indicative, Ireland can, and then some.
Responding that yes, she was aware of Ms Alsalem’s surrogacy report, the minister nevertheless explained why in her considered opinion Ms Alsalem is wrong in her approach, preferring abolition over regulation, and the Irish Government is right in its approach, preferring regulation of surrogacy over abolition:
“Rather, the relevant established policies of this Government, and of previous Governments, are based on the principle that it is preferable to seek to regulate surrogacy rather than enforce a blanket ban. The aim is to provide for surrogacy which is ethical, altruistic and, most importantly, protects the health, safety and welfare of the two most vulnerable parties: the surrogate mother and the children born as a result of surrogacy. This broad policy position appears to have wide, if not near-unanimous, agreement across political parties and groupings in the Oireachtas, as demonstrated in the recommendations which emerged from the special Joint Committee on International Surrogacy and the cross-party support for the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024 as it successfully progressed through all stages in both of the Houses.”
That’s the matter settled then, as far as Minister MacNeill is concerned. There might be growing international consensus that surrogacy is bad, and that it ultimately serves to exploit and abuse the women and children involved, but there’s consensus in Ireland, and that’s why we’re doing things our own way.
At this stage, a frustrated reader might be clawing at their screen, screeching the obvious: If it’s possible to disregard influential opinions and interventions from those on global platforms that we disagree with, why have we not done so in relation to immigration? Or in relation to climate measures that have been implemented from the top down, from either the European Union or the United Nations? Or in relation to any number of other trends that come from abroad and prove enormously controversial here (gender ideology, anyone)?
And you would have to answer, it’s because the Government clearly has a different set of priorities to the people, in many cases. To refer back to the answer given by Minister MacNeill, she cited the consensus across political parties and groupings in the Oireachtas, which, as we know, is a stiflingly progressive consensus indeed. Despite the fact that a good 80 percent of the population think immigration into Ireland is mismanaged and at unsustainable levels, the “political parties and groupings in the Oireachtas” don’t, and so that’s that.
Likewise, when it comes to climate policy, for example. Reading back through some of presidential candidate, Catherine Connolly’s Dáil contributions over the years in recent days, I was inclined to think she summed up the establishment attitude best when she described climate change variously as the most pressing challenge the country is facing.
Which political party or grouping is going to disagree with that, other than Aontú or Independent Ireland, depending on which day of the week you ask them?
No, the bottom line here is that the Irish Government is perfectly capable of saying No thank you to international onlookers when it suits it. Leaving us with the difficult realisation that many of the things they cite international obligations in defence of, must suit Government priorities only too well.