Book Offer
This will close in 10 seconds
Senator Rónán Mullen has called for “careful and determined scrutiny” on the government’s Surrogacy and Assisted Human Reproduction Bill, telling the Seanad that the rights of women, especially poorer ones, “must be spoken up for.”
The legislation, which was passed in the Dáil without a vote at the end of May, will proceed to second stage in the Seanad on Thursday.
The Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 regulates, for the first time, a wide range of practices in Ireland, including domestic altruistic surrogacy, embryo and stem-cell research, gamete and embryo donation for assisted human reproduction (AHR) and research, and pre-implantation genetic testing of embryos.
The legislation, which the government has described as a “landmark” piece of legislation, also provides for the establishment of an independent regulatory authority for AHR.
Speaking on Tuesday, Senator Mullen described the legislation as “divisive,” adding:
“I have serious disagreements with people, including friends, whom I value highly. This legislation did not get anything like challenging scrutiny in the Dáil, so it is important that we take our time with it.
“Assisted human reproduction on its own would be massive legislation, but including domestic and international surrogacy in it raises major issues of concern for people.”
He continued: “We need to ensure that the legislation is not rushed through the Houses in the closing weeks of this term. We need careful and determined scrutiny of the issues and time for proper debate and amendments.
“I hope there will be no rancour, only serious scrutiny and challenging of one another’s ideas. The rights of women, particularly poorer ones, in other countries are very much in play in this issue and they must be spoken up for. There are many other issues with this legislation as well.”
The Independent Senator has previously outlined strong objection to the practise of surrogacy, describing it as “an abuse of women and children.”
Mullen has argued that the exploitation of the needs of surrogate mothers, who “in the vast majority of cases, are poor women, should be considered.
As the Seanad resumed for the first time since the local and European elections, Senator Mullen said that the government “has every reason to be happy, in that nothing seismically bad happened to it.”
“In many ways, it has reasons to be satisfied. Nonetheless, there is change afoot in our country.”
“It is visible in the way people voted and in how people got elected who would not have got elected previously. It behoves the Government to read the signs of the times and not to believe that it now has some mandate to keep doing what it does, that being, failing sometimes to listen to minority concerns on various issues in our country.
“Be they right or wrong, they are issues that the Government needs to take more seriously. There will be consequences in a future general election if it does not.”
This will close in 10 seconds