Surrogacy advocates have called on the Government to allow Irish parents to compensate surrogates financially when having children through surrogacy abroad.
“There is, at times, confusion between commercial surrogacy and compensatory surrogacy,” said Ciara Merrigan, chair of Irish Families Through Surrogacy (IFTS). “We would be advocating for the surrogate to receive financial payment for things like maternity clothes, medication, dietary expenses and any loss of earnings [during pregnancy]. We’re not looking for state support but that you wouldn’t stop reasonable expenses, because we believe that surrogates should be compensated.”
Anti-surrogacy campaigners often say that compensation is really payment by another name.
The request to avoid blocking compensation being paid to surrogates was one of three concerns with the legislation raised by IFTS in advance of a Dáil debate on proposed legislation. The group also called for greater protection for Irish LGBTQ+ couples seeking to have children via surrogacy in the form of an amendment to the Government’s proposal of creating a green list of countries.
