The three-month timeline for the Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy to consider and make recommendations on the matter is too short, Government Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Prof Conor O’Mahony has said.

The target of completing work by the committee on the relevant Assisted Human Reproduction Bill, leading to legislation on surrogacy, was “very, very tight and is, in some senses, arbitrary”, Prof O’Mahony said.

“Whatever we enact is going to regulate surrogacy in Ireland for a generation,” he said, “so I would be of the view that it would be much better for it to take another six months, or 12 months if necessary, to get it right.”

He “would rather see this Bill coming back around next year than being enacted in its current form”.