18 February 2004
Dr. Henry: I, too, support the call for a central register of joint guardianships. As Senator Brian Hayes said, one third of children are born in this State outside marriage and therefore we are talking about a considerable number of cases. It is important to remember that this provision could be vital for the father, the mother, the child and their extended families. I hope the Minister can accept one of the amendments.
I spoke on Second Stage about another group of children I am concerned about but I did not hear the Minister's reply. It concerns the position regarding children who were born to surrogate mothers abroad and brought back to this country. As the Minister is aware, there is quite a number of such children who have either been born in the United Kingdom or the United States; I do not have any knowledge of children born in any other country. I would have thought we have a serious problem regarding the register these children are on because they have not been born and registered here. There is a problem regarding adoption because, with surrogacy, money has changed hands and as the Minister is aware, under the Adoption Acts money cannot change hands. Perhaps the best option is to have the parents made joint guardians of these children and have them on this register.
I know of a number of cases where the biological father, whose sperm was used in pregnancies which took place - one in the United Kingdom and one in the United States - had a court order that he is the guardian of the child but that leaves the mother here, who is bringing up that child, with no legal rights over the child. Perhaps we could do something about that here and have them in a position of joint guardianship by agreement. I am not talking about half a dozen cases. I am talking about quite a number of children by now. I do not know how they are managing because with the joy of the child arriving, and it must be remembered that this has only been happening for five or six years, little thought is given to what will happen in the future about inheritance and so forth. If the parents are killed in a car crash, will the child be viewed as a stranger and have to pay an enormous amount of inheritance tax? There are many difficulties here which are not being considered. Senator Brian Hayes and Senator Cummins raised the more common situations. One of the reasons I was keen to try to get the register of guardianships set up was that this matter needs to be addressed now. I have met some of these children. Unless the adoption laws are made fairly elastic, I do not know how they are to be dealt with except under joint guardianship. I would be glad to hear the Department's views.
Dr. Henry: Surrogate children.
Mary Coughlan: On the issue of surrogate children, if, for example, the child is born in the United Kingdom, that child would be registered there. Given that we recognise British birth certificates, the involvement of the Ard Chláraitheoir is something we would query because the child has actually been registered and has a birth certificate. The Senator is talking about a child who has been adopted as a consequence or who has, perhaps, circumvented the legal--
Dr. Henry: The child cannot be adopted because money has changed hands. The adoption legislation provides that money cannot change hands. The woman here - and perhaps the man - is not in a position to adopt. This happens particularly if the man's sperm is used and the biological mother of the child is in England, but the woman who is bringing up the child is back here in Ireland and has no rights to that child. Could a joint guardianship arrangement be made in that case?
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