Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister may tell me that what I have to say is relevant to a later section. My understanding of the structure of the Bill is that any parent to whom a child has been born by use of assisted reproduction by donor up to the time when the Bill becomes operative, and who wants the child to be regarded as their own, must make a court application to do so. I am talking about the straightforward situation of a husband and wife where the wife has given birth. The original legislation had a structure where there was a presumption of parenthood and if there was a challenge to the parenthood of a child a court application could be made. The effect of that was that, for the vast majority of individuals who had a child through assisted reproduction by donor, the child would be regarded as effectively theirs.

I ask the Minister again if she is aware of the number of children who have been born by assisted reproduction by donor over the past 30 years. What work has been done to assess how many court applications could arise if the only way to establish parentage of a child born where there has been a donated sperm or ova is through the making of a court application? What consideration has been given to the capacity of the courts to cope with that? What consideration has been given to the difficulties that might arise if, as is likely, there are hundreds and possibly thousands of children whose parents will not make this application as the children may already be adults or no longer living in this country? Issues with parentage could arise on the death of a parent where there is a succession dispute. Will the fact that a person did not apply create a difficulty and will there be some measures in the Bill to address the consequences of this?

Perhaps I misunderstand the Bill but it does seem to me to envisage that where there has been a birth through assisted reproduction and a donated sperm or ova there will not be an assumption of parenthood by virtue of the fact that the couple residing together, whether they are married or a same sex couple, will require a court decision. If the Minister wants to provide for a degree of certainty in this matter, the Bill could have both the presumption and, should problems arise later, the facility to apply for a court declaration so that a person could marry the two processes. Removing the presumption leaves individuals vulnerable and will result in a lot of unnecessary court applications being made.