| | | You are here: Home >> Press Section >> Gay fathers case prompts calls for surrogacy legislation | | | | Gay fathers case prompts calls for surrogacy legislation | | Reproduced from The Irish Examiner | Thursday, August 09, 2001
By Carl O'Brien, Political Reporter | | | OPPOSITION parties say laws are needed urgently to deal with the issue of surrogate parenting after an Irish gay couple parented triplets through a surrogate mother in California. There are rigorous procedures in place for adoptions in Ireland but there are no surrogacy laws on the statute books.
Labour has backed calls for the area to be regulated while Fine Gael has warned of the danger of people using surrogacy to side-step normal adoption procedures rather than keeping the welfare of the children a priority.
Fine Gael's health spokesman, Gay Mitchell, said he will ask the Oireachtas Health Committee to call on the Department of Health to deal with the issue.
"My immediate concern in raising this matter is not about the sexuality of the male couple who recently brought triplets home to Dublin, though that is an issue which deserves reflection and calm consideration. Rather, my concern is for the need to ensure that adequate checks and balances are in place," he said.
A Labour spokesman said the party wanted the area to be regulated but the precise nature of legislation needed to be debated thoroughly.
Without laws governing surrogate parenthood in Ireland, any couple can avail of the services of a surrogate mother or agency.
Independent Senator Dr Mary Henry, who introduced a Bill in the Seanad on surrogate parenting which was defeated three years ago, said the lack of regulation was worrying.
She said technology was already way ahead of legislation on this issue and that politicians would have to respond quickly.
She said numerous governments had failed to deal with the issue and that a commission dealing with assisted reproduction had not yet reported - despite being established three years ago.
The debate on surrogate parenting was sparked when Dublin businessmen John MacMahon, 42, and Gerard Whelan, 37, reportedly paid a substantial sum to a Californian agency to have the babies through a surrogate mother.
It is understood the triplets are the biological children of Gerard Whelan and were conceived with the help of IVF treatment. The couple organised the surrogate mother through the American agency and they travelled there for the birth on June 12 last. | | | | |  For further information, please contact Marion Campbell Solicitors by calling (01) 475 9345, or by filling out an on-line enquiry form. |
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