Legislating for surrogacy presents a rights paradox for the government

Concerns about the potential exploitation of women in overseas commercial surrogacy arrangements have caused the government’s efforts to legislate on the issue to grind to a halt

The government plans to address most surrogacy issues through its soon to be published Assisted Human Reproduction Bill (AHR), which will regulate a range of assisted procreation services for the first time. Picture: Getty

Ask two seemingly similar questions to various members of government, and you are likely to get two very different answers.

If you ask whether Irish children born through international surrogacy should have the same full legal relationship with their intending parents as all other Irish children do with their natural parents, then the answer is likely to be a fairly unanimous “yes”. Currently in Ireland, there is no route to full legal parentage for the ...