Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 44:

In page 24, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following:

“Safety of children - AHR treatment provider

16. (1) This section shall not apply where section 52* applies to the relevant person in relation to the surrogacy agreement concerned. (2) An AHR treatment provider shall not provide AHR treatment to a relevant person unless the provider is satisfied that the relevant person, and each other relevant person, does not present a potential significant risk of harm or neglect to—

(a) any child that may be born as a result of such treatment, or

(b)any other child.

(3) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), the AHR treatment provider shall, for the purposes of subsection (2), make a request in writing to each relevant person to complete and submit to the provider within the period specified in the request (being a period reasonable in all the circumstances of the case), a return in the specified form (in this section referred to as a “section 16 return”) attached to the request.

(b) Subject to paragraph (c) and subsection (7), the Minister—

(i) shall, as soon as is practicable after the commencement of this subsection, by regulations specify the information, or information falling within a class of information specified in the regulations, that a section 16 return may require a relevant person, or a relevant person falling within a class of relevant persons specified in the regulations, to provide, and

(ii) may by regulations specify the circumstances (if any) in which such information may be further disclosed by an AHR treatment provider in addition to further disclosures required by law.

(c) Where the Minister makes regulations under paragraph (b), he or she shall, in addition to having regard to the other provisions of this Act, have regard to the following:

(i) that, in determining the information to be specified, the paramount consideration is the safety of any child referred to in subsection (2);

(ii) that the information sought needs to be appropriate and proportionate to satisfying the AHR treatment provider as referred to in subsection (2);

(iii) that any information sought which may reasonably be regarded as sensitive information is protected from any unnecessary further disclosure by the AHR treatment provider concerned except where such further disclosure is required by law.

(d) The AHRRA shall, in specifying different forms of section 16 returns, ensure that the forms are consistent with the regulations made under paragraph (b).

(4) Subject to subsection (5), where the AHR treatment provider is not satisfied after having assessed the section 16 returns concerned, as referred to in subsection (2), the provider shall, as soon as is practicable after the expiration of the period concerned referred to in subsection (3)(a), by notice in the specified form (in this section referred to as a “section 16 notice”) given to each relevant person, state the reasons why the provider is not so satisfied.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), the AHR treatment provider may also assess information obtained otherwise than from a relevant person.

(6) An AHR treatment provider shall retain the original or a copy of—

(a) a section 16 return,

(b) a section 16 notice,

(c) information referred to in subsection (5) which is in writing, and

(d)any note made in writing, by the provider, of information referred to in subsection (5) which is not in writing, for not less than 30 years after receiving the return, issuing the notice, obtaining the information or making the note, as the case may be.

(7) On and after the establishment day, the Minister shall not make regulations under subsection (3) except after consultation with the AHRRA.

(8) In this section, “relevant person”, in relation to any child that may be born as a result of AHR treatment, means—

(a) in the case of two intending parents, each of the parents,

(b) in the case of a single intending parent, that parent and the parent’s spouse, civil partner or cohabitant (if any), and

(c) in the case of a surrogate mother, that mother and her spouse, civil partner or cohabitant (if any).”.

Amendment No. 44 proposes to replace section 16. However, this is mostly due to a number of refinements in some of the terms used. The major change brought by amendments Nos. 46 and 106 is to confirm that while the relevant fertility clinic will undertake the safety of children assessment for AHR treatment provided in Ireland, the AHRRA will do so in respect of surrogacy as part of its pre-conception application process.