Ms Geraldine Fitzpatrick:

No. Their treatment will possibly be less expensive in the Czech Republic but when they come back, they are vulnerable and there is no support. One could arrive back in this country with medication dispensed or prescribed in another jurisdiction which we do not have here. There are all those problems associated with it. We need to regulate the situation in Ireland. We should make this available to people, so they would not have to put themselves in that vulnerable position. Even if we could reduce the number of multiple birth rates in Ireland, the savings there would pay for a minimum of one or two treatments initially for people. Something needs to be done to overcome that type of vulnerability. The service is essentially private. That is the point.

In regard to the 2005 report, the chairperson of NISIG was on that commission. I attended a few of the meetings. There is still the same problem. There is no regulation and we have no basic data to which we can refer. People should have that facility. If I remember correctly, that report took many years. There is no point doing another report if it sits on the shelf. We can take the basics from this.