Ms Gillian Keegan:

I am here this morning to represent an organisation called the National Infertility Support and Information Group, NISIG. I am a long-time member and volunteer of the organisation, having been with for over ten years. It supports people on every step of their journey to have a family. We welcome the opportunity to come before the committee, which is undertaking a very important piece of work in the context of the legislation on assisted human reproduction.

For those who are not familiar with NISIG, the organisation was established in 1996 by three amazing ladies in Cork: Helen Browne, Martina Horgan and Geraldine Fitzpatrick. It is the only charity in Ireland focusing on infertility. Our mission is to provide practical supports to, and to advocate for, those who experience reproductive challenges and their families.

We strongly welcome the publication of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022. Many of the proposals in this Bill have long been called for. We are concerned that international surrogacy is not included in the current AHR legislation but welcome that this committee is tasked with agreeing a means by which this can be remedied. We appreciate that the issue members, as national legislators, have been asked to deal with is not straightforward but it is incredibly important.

Over the years, NISIG has been the first point of contact for thousands of people reaching out for support and connection, particularly in the early years when there was not much awareness of fertility issues and there were very few people for those people to connect with. Many of those contacting us are really just starting to contemplate the option of surrogacy. We also provide workshops on various issues related to fertility challenges including workshops on surrogacy. After our most recent workshop on surrogacy, we found that a relatively brief psychosocial intervention can significantly increase parents’ feelings of confidence and emotional resilience and provide practical tools for engaging in the profoundly important conversations with their child and their community about their child's story.

To give the committee an example of the lived experience of one of our members, I will briefly detail Sarah's experience. Sarah and her husband spent eight years trying to conceive before her boy and girl twins were born in January 2020. They had exhausted every treatment available in Ireland and in the Czech Republic, including Clomid, intrauterine insemination, IUI, and eight rounds of IVF. It took a massive toll on them not just financially, but also physically and mentally. They also sadly had a miscarriage during this time. It was a very difficult and stressful decision for Sarah and her husband to make but they eventually arrived at a point where surrogacy was their only option. They feel that, based on current legislation, as soon as their twins were born, the Irish State was only concerned with Sarah’s husband, as the father. Sarah feels that she is essentially invisible and has practically no rights to her own children. She can apply for guardianship but feels that just does not befit her role as a parent. Once her children reach 18 years of age, she will lose all her rights again. Sarah is their mother. When they need a parent in the middle of the night, when they have a cut on their knee or when they are scared, and for all of the other natural milestones that children go through during their lives, she is the first person they look for. Not a day goes by when Sarah does not think about how unfair this is, first of all, to the children but also to herself and her husband. Her children are not protected because, according to current Irish law, they do not have a mother. How can we accept that in Ireland in 2022? Given the long and arduous journey these parents have had to endure to finally become a mammy and daddy, including not just the emotional investment, but also the financial struggle, it is unconscionable that the State would then, as a willing bystander, make them endure any more hardship and stress.

We urge this committee to listen to the lived experience of those who have been through the international surrogacy process, whose stories clearly show the need for legislation in this area to support them and their families, and to take on board the medical and academic testimony that witnesses have provided to it. This testimony cannot leave anyone with any doubt that legislation is desperately needed and overdue for those who have been through this process and those who will undertake it in the future. At the centre of this, the best interests of the child must at all times be at the forefront of any legal provisions. We ask that the committee bear this in mind when working through this process and drafting recommendations. I thank the committee for the opportunity to speak. I look forward to answering any questions members may have on behalf of NISIG.