Dr. Edward Keegan:

To echo what the Minister said, this is a requirement at EU level. Most of the gametes used at the moment in donor-assisted human reproduction in Ireland, and as regulated under the Children and Family Relationships Act, come from cryobanks abroad, such as in Denmark. They will be subject to the same requirements and the payments in that regard relate to reasonable expenses. It is to ensure there is no financial incentive to donating, which could create risks relating to the safety of the donor, who might donate too many times, and to the veracity of any background information provided by creating that financial incentive. The EU law in the area relates to that and is to ensure it never goes beyond recompense but is always simply making up for the losses associated with it. That differs by country depending on the different standards in those countries, so there is no set sum and it is for national authorities to set. Under the Bill, therefore, reasonable expenses can be paid, which is the approach at the moment under the 2015 Act and allows for the use of those gametes from countries that are similarly transposing and using that body of EU law.