Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Fitzpatrick and thank her for her presentation. This is an issue in which I am very interested and about which I have spoken at this committee and locally. I have personal experience of family and friends who were devastated because they were unable to have children. It is important and timely that the issue is now being debated by the committee. One of the most pressing issues in this area is the importance of ensuring there is equality right across the board. There are people who wish to have a family but simply do not have the financial resources to even begin pursuing fertility treatment. Others who are availing of treatment have taken on an enormous financial burden. Some of them are also dealing with negative equity and are struggling to balance their efforts to have a family with keeping up with their mortgage payments and other bills.

Senator Crown asked about the services available under the public health system. I discovered through my research into this issue that in the United Kingdom, assisted human reproduction services are available on the NHS. The system is administered in each borough by clinical commissioning groups which adjudicate on the eligibility of applicants, most of whom are aged between 23 and 39. In some cases, it is impossible to sanction initial or additional treatment, for a variety of reasons, but in many cases such sanction is given. The UK model is the one we should follow. It is not about money being thrown at people; the system is well researched and well managed and there is a comprehensive engagement with applicants. Part of this involves examining each individual's health history to ensure he or she is up to going through a process that is very difficult, especially for women. The physical demands alone include the injection of hormones and so on.

I agree with Ms Fitzpatrick's proposal that fertility treatment should be included in the standard package or basket - we always seem to be talking about baskets in this context - under any universal health insurance system. For most people, having a family is a great gift and the birth of their children a very happy time in their lives. Unfortunately, for many couples who want to go down that road, things just do not work out without intervention. I have personal experience of family members who succeeded in having children following fertility treatment and others who, after six or seven IVF attempts, remain childless. This can have a devastating impact not only on the individuals themselves and possibly their relationship, but also on their parents and extended families. In many cases, particularly where both partners have to work full-time to repay huge mortgages, couples are delaying children until the woman is well into her 30s, which may cause problems.

As I said, I would support any initiative to ensure universal health insurance covers people who are facing this crisis. It is a crying shame we have waited so long before moving to assist the thousands of people in this country who are facing or already going through this process and are obliged to take on a huge financial burden in order to fulfil the wish shared by most couples to have a family of their own. Anything I can do to assist as a member of this committee, I will be only too glad to do it.