Following the publication of the General Scheme of the Children and Family Relationships Bill, Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan has made various recommendations.
The Children and Family Relationships Bill aims to place children at the heart of family law in Ireland and seeks, in particular, to provide more protection for unmarried families.
The Report generally welcomes the Bill but criticises it for not adequately protecting the rights of adopted children and children born through surrogacy and assisted reproduction. The Ombudsman feels that these people should be provided with a right to access information on their birth and origins. Withholding this information is “a failure to vindicate someone’s identity rights”.
On surrogacy arrangements, Ms Logan said that “the Oireachtas must ensure that the sanctions imposed on parents who break the law do not leave children in a legally precarious situation”. The Scheme of the Bill states that it will be an offence for surrogacy to take place in exchange for payment. Ms Logan states in her report that she saw the reasoning behind the sanction but called for clarity in how the court’s ability to deny a declaration of parentage would affect both the citizenship and the welfare of the child. Guidance would need to be given as to who would be given the subsequent care of the child, should the parents have entered into a commercial surrogacy arrangement.
Click here to read Emily Logan’s recommendations for the scheme in full.
Click here to read a report on the recommendations in the Irish Times