Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill and I commend the Minister of State and the Department on bringing it forward. This Bill is long overdue; it has been called for and required for more than two decades. We need to appreciate it is complex and complicated legislation. Notwithstanding the delay, I can understand why the Minister of State and the Department have had to put such time into preparing this Bill.

When one reads through it, one can see that it deals with areas of such enormous complexity, ethical issues of significant concern. It is important we get the balance right when the legislation is enacted. The Bill will benefit from being considered by everyone in this House. All parties in the House will have an opportunity to review it. I know that it is a complicated Bill but I believe the Department of Health will benefit from getting the views of the Members of this House.

It was in July 1978 that the first child conceived through IVF was born. It was an extraordinary scientific achievement. It transformed the world in many ways. In particular, it transformed the lives of many people who could not have children. Due to the scientific changes, they were subsequently able to have children. It was a remarkable achievement. In the past 40 years in Ireland and, indeed, throughout the world many couples have been assisted in reproducing children as a result of assisted human reproduction processes. It is surprising that in Ireland to date we have never had it regulated by law. We have never had it licensed by law. Notwithstanding that, it is obviously the case that many couples in Ireland, in the past 20 to 30 years, have availed of the services of providers of services of assisted human reproduction. Even though those services seem to have been provided without too much controversy or public criticism, it is absolutely essential that this issue is regulated by the Houses of the Oireachtas.

When we look at some of the issues in respect of assisted human reproduction and IVF, in particular, we can see the problems that have arisen in the past as a result of the absence of legislation. For instance, in 2009, the Supreme Court considered a case that arose as a result of a couple who decided to go down the avenue of IVF. They had a number of embryos produced, some of which were implanted in the woman and others were frozen. Subsequently, the couple separated and split up. It was a traumatic case that arose as a result of the fact that, after the separation, the woman in the relationship wanted the frozen embryos to be implanted and born, whereas the man did not want that to happen. That was an extremely difficult issue to resolve. It would have been resolved if there was legislation in place stating what should be done in such circumstances.

Ultimately, the matter went to the Supreme Court and it was resolved in a manner that was not, in my opinion, satisfactory because of the absence of legislation. The couple should not have been put through the trauma and uncertainty of not knowing what would occur. For instance, under the legislation being introduced, we know the issue that arose in that case would not apply because the procedure would be available, under section 23, for one of the parents to apply for a revocation of permission that he or she previously granted. We know how that traumatic situation would be dealt with.

It is also important to note that the persons who are providing these services in Ireland as present also want to be regulated. It is important they are regulated. That is why I welcome the fact that under the Bill there will be a new statutory body, the assisted human reproduction regulatory authority. I do not think it will be a statutory body that will need to be staffed by vast numbers of people, but it will be a statutory body that will perform an extremely important function. I am sure there are people around the world who want to come to Ireland, or may already be in Ireland, and are not providing the level of service that is required of assisted human reproduction. I welcome the fact that under section 116, the Minister can declare whether persons are or are not fit to be involved in this business.

Many Members of the House have spoken about ethical issues that have arisen. Obviously, ethical issues arise when it comes to what is to happen to embryos. On the issue of assisted human reproduction, in the case of IVF, generally embryos are implanted in the mother in the hope that the baby is subsequently born. However, in many instances, a number of embryos are produced and they are not all implanted. It is extremely important that those embryos are not used for research unbeknownst to the parents or used for research that we in this House would regard as unethical or inappropriate. I welcome the fact that Schedule 2 to the Bill sets out the types of behaviour that this House regards as unacceptable. Experimentation on embryos is something we do not want to see in Ireland, and I believe Schedule 2 has been very well drafted to ensure that does not occur. I also welcome the fact that in Schedule 2, the provision is available to the Minister for Health to enact by regulation other types of practices that may happen in the future in regard to experimentation on embryos.

On the issue of research, referred to as embryo stem cell, ESC, research, that is dealt with in Part 3 of the Bill. It appears to be the case, and perhaps the Minister could deal with this not in the reply but on Committee Stage, that under section 30 of the Bill, research is permitted on an embryo when the intending parents' consent to that research happening. Obviously, the research must be ethical. It cannot be beyond what is provided for in Schedule 2. It cannot engage in any of those types of activities.

Part 4 deals with the storage of gametes and embryos. There is also an interesting provision contained in section 38. In the tragic situation where a girl of 16 years of age has to undergo treatment for cancer, there is a provision contained within section 38 that would allow for eggs from that child to be stored until after the treatment in the hope that they will be of use to her in her life.

The one issue that many Members have spoken about is the issue dealt with in Part 7, which is domestic surrogacy. We need to be realistic about the extent of domestic surrogacy that will happen in Ireland. I suspect it will be extremely small, unlike the whole area of assisted human reproduction and IVF, a service many people avail of. In respect of domestic surrogacy, there will be very few people who, in practical terms, will avail of it. We saw in the case of MR v. an tArd-Chláraitheoir a number of years ago a very good example of the type of domestic surrogacy that may arise. It is referred to as compassionate surrogacy. It was a situation in which a woman was incapable of carrying a child to fruition, however, her sister was prepared to assist her. The embryo that was created by the woman and her husband was implanted in her sister and the child was born. There was a controversy about it, legally, because the woman who gave birth to the child was regarded as the mother. That is not the type of surrogacy that is common in Ireland at present. We need to be realistic as to the type of surrogacy that happens in Ireland. In general, it involves people from Ireland who are desperate to have children going abroad to countries where surrogacy is legal and having a child there. One of the parents usually provides one of the gametes and the other parent will apply for a step-parent adoption in that country. On return to Ireland, an application is brought before the Adoption Authority of Ireland for the recognition of a foreign adoption. That is how it happens in Ireland and we should not fool ourselves into thinking it happens any other way.

What we do not want to happen is to have two avenues of surrogacy in Ireland: one piece of legislation that deals with domestic surrogacy and another that deals with international surrogacy. We need a mechanism whereby we have a statutory authority, perhaps the one that will be established under the Bill, that will deal with all types of surrogacy. On the issue of surrogacy, we need to recognise that it happens. No matter what legislation we enact, it will continue to happen. As referred to by Deputy Connolly, a very important issue that may not be given enough recognition is the right to identity of the child subsequently born.

See this speech in context