Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. In January 2022, the Government agreed that issues relating to international surrogacy required further detailed consideration and agreed to the establishment of a special Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy. Following the publication of the final report of the committee in July 2022, officials from my Department joined colleagues from the Department of Health and the Department of Justice to form an interdepartmental group to analyse the report and make legislative proposals. Based on the work of this group, the Minister for Health, the Minister for Justice and myself agreed draft policy and legislative proposals in respect of both the regulation of international surrogacy and the recognition of past surrogacy arrangements, both domestic and international. These proposals were brought to Government and approved in December 2022. Their aim is to establish a legal process to allow for the recognition of parentage in future international surrogacy arrangements and a legal process to enable recognition of parentage in respect of surrogacy arrangements, both domestic and international, undertaken prior to the commencement of the new law.

The policy approach approved by Government proposes that a two-step process will be introduced to allow for the recognition of parentage in future international surrogacy arrangements, encompassing pre-conception approval by the assisted human reproduction authority, AHRRA, and a post-birth court process for the granting of a parental order for surrogacy. The process will include safeguards for the protection of the rights and welfare of all parties to a surrogacy arrangement: the child, including their identity rights; the surrogate mother; and the intending parents. The Minister for Health is the lead Minister in respect of development of the legislation. I understand it is his intention to bring the proposals as amendments to the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction Bill) 2022 on Committee Stage in the Dail. The formal drafting process in respect of those amendments is well under way by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, in conjunction with the three Departments.

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