Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I believe there is a misunderstanding here. I am not for a moment suggesting that the development of the national donor-conceived person register would wait until there is an independent regulatory authority dealing with donor-assisted human reproduction, DAHR. I am simply making the point that in the longer term, clearly that is envisaged. We need that and that is quite obvious from the commission's original report of 2005. What I am saying is that in discussions with the Department of Health, it has agreed that it will be responsible for the development of the national donor-conceived person register. We do not have an authority at present, so we have to identify where this work is going to be done. There are clearly resource issues as well, which the Cabinet has discussed and of which the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, is well aware, but the Department of Health has accepted that this would be part of its responsibility in terms of the implementation of this Bill. That decision has been made and the Department of Health has agreed to it. There is no question of putting off the implementation of this element of the Bill until there is an authority in place. I simply made the point that in the longer term, clearly these provisions would transition into an authority when it is established.