Ireland has been found to have the second-highest rate of surrogacy use, according to a survey involving 90 countries. Surrogacy is banned in countries like Germany, Austria, Italy and Sweden because it is thought to exploit poorer women and commodify children.

The survey, carried out last year by Families Through Surrogacy (FTS), claims Ireland is second only to Israel in the rate of use of surrogacy. Families Through Surrogacy based its finding on the answers given by 30 agencies in nine countries dealing with clients from 90 nations. It found that 68% of surrogacies carried out for Irish couples took place in Ukraine.

Sam Everingham, a director of the Australia-based FTS, believes the proposal to ban commercial surrogacy in Ireland would be a mistake and would drive couples to break the law. “Learning from countries like Australia, where three states have banned overseas surrogacy, shows such policies fail,” he said.

“Despite such policies in Australian states, that country remains the second largest user of cross-border surrogacy globally.”