Dr Lydia Bracken addresses Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality, and Integration on Surrogacy

Dr Lydia Bracken was invited to address the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children, Disability, Equality, and Integration on the topic of ‘Surrogacy – Rights of the Child in relation to Domestic and International Surrogacy’ on 1 February 2022. The session was also attended by Professor Conor O’Mahony, Special Rapporteur for Child Protection, representatives from Irish Families Through Surrogacy and representatives from Equality for Children. 

In her submission, Dr Bracken argued that surrogacy must be subject to specific legal regulation in order to comply with the best interests principle and that law, policy and practice in the area must be shaped by children’s rights and research on children’s experiences.  It was submitted that regulation needs to ensure that the intending parents who care for the child from birth can both be recognised as legal parents; that the child’s right to identity is safeguarded; and that the child does not experience discrimination due to the circumstances of their conception. Dr Bracken highlighted that there is a need to legislate for future surrogacy arrangements, but the law must also provide a mechanism to recognise the legal parentage of children who have already been born through surrogacy. In addition, Dr Bracken submitted that regulation for both domestic and international surrogacy is required and that ‘ignoring the reality of international surrogacy by not legislating for it leaves the door open to children’s rights violations.’ Dr Bracken also called for amendments to the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 to ensure that children’s rights are upheld in a consistent manner across all legislation on assisted human reproduction. 

The meeting is reported in the Irish Examiner (titled "Lack of surrogacy legislation 'harmful to the rights of children", and "Mother says surrogacy means she is not recognised as daughter's legal parent"), The Times, and BreakingNews.ie, among others 

Further details of the meeting are available on the Houses of the Oireachtas website.