Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am standing in for the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, who is unwell and unable to attend in person. He is disappointed not to be present for this critical and historic legislation, which will introduce for the first time a regulatory framework for assisted human reproduction, AHR.

AHR is a complex, innovative and fast-moving area of medicine and this legislation will support thousands of people who wish to have children to do so safely through AHR. It will clarify the legal position of children born in Ireland as a result of AHR and will provide an ethical framework for research on new reproductive technologies. Ireland is very much an outlier internationally. The State is not funding advanced AHR treatment and we do not have a specific regulatory framework in place in respect of this area of healthcare. This means that individuals are availing of complex and sometimes risky procedures in what is effectively a legal vacuum. The new rules, regulations and provisions under this legislation will help bring guidance, clarity and peace of mind. First and foremost, the legislation will support prospective parents undergoing AHR treatment at what is usually an incredibly stressful time. That stress can be financial, psychological, physical or a combination of all three.

Importantly, these legislative measures will support the health and well-being of all children born as a result of AHR treatment. The Bill fills a legal vacuum in respect of domestic surrogacy. Significantly, children born through surrogacy will, under this legislation, have the right to access information on their gestational and genetic origins. The commencement of this legislation will also support the advancement of our plan to provide advanced AHR treatments, including IVF, in our public health service.

The Bill will build on the excellent work that is being done by the Minister, the Department of Health and the HSE in the area of women's healthcare. As Deputies will appreciate, this legislation will mean a great deal to many and I look forward to working with Members of both Houses on progressing it as swiftly as possible.

The Bill itself has been long in gestation. I acknowledge the ground-breaking work undertaken by the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction. More recently, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health's pre-legislative scrutiny process and last year's report of the special rapporteur on children have been of great assistance.

They have helped to inform the underlying principles and policies of the Bill. We have had very welcome and constructive input from various civic groups, including but not limited to, the National Fertility Support and Information Group, LGBT Ireland, Irish Families Through Surrogacy and Equality for Children. I thank all of them for their work in this area.

The Bill comprises 11 Parts, 161 sections and seven Schedules. This underpins the complexity involved, but also demonstrates the substantial considerations and work done to develop a policy and legislation for the first time in this field. A more detailed section by section analysis of the Bill can be found in the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum, but I will now briefly outline some of the important features of each Part.

Part 1 covers standard provisions, including definitions, regulations, expenses and commencement. Part 2 primarily sets out certain general criteria which need to be fulfilled prior to the provision of AHR treatment, including in respect of minimum age limits, the safety of any child born as a result of such treatment, the provision of appropriate information and counselling and the obtaining of all required consent prior to the commencement of treatment. As recommended by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health pre-legislative scrutiny report, upper age limits for women undergoing AHR treatment will now be set in secondary legislation in line with the principles and policies set out in section 11(2) of the Bill. There is also a general requirement that prior to the provision of AHR treatment a reasonable expectation must exist that at least one intending parent will live until any child born as a result of such treatment reaches adulthood.

Part 3 covers a broader range of matters relating to gamete and embryo donation than the issues of parentage and non-anonymous donations addressed in the Child and Family Relationships Act 2015. Provisions in this Part outline the conditions and restrictions relating to an individual or couple donating gametes and embryos for use in the AHR treatment by others. It also covers its use in research. It outlines specific requirements relating to people wishing to access AHR treatment involving donated material. For instance, there are specific requirements relating to the prohibition of the donation of embryos other than supernumerary embryos, which are embryos created and stored for the use as part of a person's own AHR treatment and which remain unused following the completion of that treatment, and the prohibition of commercial gamete and embryo donation whether for the purpose of providing AHR treatment to others or for use in research.

Part 4 allows for a person under the age of 18 who is due to undergo medical treatment which is likely to cause a significant impairment to his or her fertility to be provided with AHR to facilitate the subsequent storage of his or her gametes. Also, in this Part, there is provision for the Minister to make regulation to specify a maximum period for the storage of the gametes and embryos, but in the meantime a period of ten years is applicable. This can be extended with the express permission of the assisted human reproduction regulatory authority, which will be established. I would like to acknowledge that the last two provisions outlined were raised by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health as part of its pre-legislative scrutiny process.

Part 5 outlines the circumstances under which an AHR treatment provider will be permitted to offer posthumous assisted human reproduction. This is an application of the AHR technology to achieve a pregnancy using the gametes of a deceased person or an embryo created using the gametes of a deceased person. The 2017 general scheme set out that a deceased person would be only considered a parent of a child born through the use of his or her gametes or embryos where the child is born within 36 months of a parent's death. This provision was inserted to facilitate the orderly administration of a deceased's estate. Importantly, and as advised by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health, this has been removed. Instead, there is an emphasis on those contemplating posthumous AHR obtaining detailed relevant legal advice prior to consenting to it.

Part 6 sets out the strict conditions under which pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and genetic screening, as well as Human leukocyte antigen, HLA, matching, would be permitted. Broadly speaking, these are screening procedures that can be undertaken in circumstances where there is a significant risk of a child being born with serious genetic disease, life-limiting condition or chromosomal abnormality. In this regard, provision is also being made for the establishment of a register of genetic diseases which will be maintained and regularly updated.

Part 7 sets out the circumstances under which surrogacy may be permitted in Ireland, including that the surrogacy agreement is gestational only, namely, the surrogate's egg is not used; any child born will have a genetic link to at least one intending parent; the surrogate mother and at least one intending parent must have been habitually resident in the State for not less than two years; the relevant embryo transfer is to be undertaken in the State; the child needs to be born in Ireland; the surrogacy arrangements are non-commercial; and the agreement must be approved by the regulatory body in advance of the provision of the relevant AHR treatment. It provides that the woman who is going to act as a surrogate mother must be 25 years old or older, has previously given birth to a child and must not act as a surrogate mother under a surrogacy agreement more than twice.

Currently, under Irish law, the surrogate is considered to be the mother. This Part provides for a mechanism through which the parental rights and responsibilities will be transferred from the surrogate to the intending parent or parents through the granting of a parental order application to the Circuit Court. Also, provision is made to establish a national surrogacy register that will hold information on all parties involved in the surrogacy agreement, namely, the surrogate, the donor and the intending parents, to allow children born from surrogacy agreements to access information in relation to their genetic and gestational origins. In line with a recommendation from the special rapporteur on child protection, the Bill removes the exception in the 2017 general scheme that allowed a donor or intending parent to object to the information held on the national surrogacy register being given to such a child. Again, on foot of a proposal by the special rapporteur, the age at which relevant children can access information on the national surrogacy register and the national donor-conceived person register has been reduced from 18 years to 16 years.

Part 8 provides for the establishment of the assisted human reproduction regulatory authority, outlines its powers and lists its functions, which include the licensing of AHR treatment providers and research facilities; promoting, monitoring and enforcing compliance with the legislation; collecting and publishing information in respect of AHR procedures and gamete and embryo donations carried out in the State; preparing and approving codes of practice for the guidance of licence holders; establishing and maintaining the national surrogacy register; and taking on the function of maintaining the national donor-conceived person register.

Part 9 includes detailed provisions in respect of the functions of the regulatory authority related to licensing. Part 10 contains further details in respect of the functions of the regulatory authority related to enforcement of compliance with the provisions of the Bill such as the appointment of authorised officers and their powers; the process for dealing with relevant complaints; and the issuing by the regulatory authority of the codes of practice to guide licence holders. Part 11 provides for consequential amendments to other legislation on the Statue Book, namely, the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, the Civil Registration Act 2004, the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 and the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004.

I wish to mention two of the Schedules which deal with the regulation of embryo and stem cell research. Schedule 2 lists specific types of such research which are prohibited under the Bill, while Schedule 4 sets out criteria that the regulatory authority shall have regard to in determining a licence application to undertake research involving embryos and stem cells. The focus of AHR legislation has always been on the regulation of a wide range of practices undertaken in this jurisdiction exclusively, and particularly those undertaken by the private fertility clinics operating in this country. Therefore, the published Bill does not include provisions to regulate surrogacy arrangements undertaken in other jurisdictions.

The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, is committed to having regard, alongside our colleagues the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, to work on a newly established special joint Oireachtas committee on international surrogacy, as this Bill progresses through the Houses of the Oireachtas. I strongly believe that this legislation will support and benefit all of those using assisted human reproduction, AHR, treatment, as well as the children born as a result of it. I commend the Bill to the House.

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