Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 57 together.

I thank the Deputy. This matter is also important to me and we are pushing very hard on it. The assisted human reproduction, AHR, legislation would have been passed and in operation by now. With broad political agreement, we paused it to ensure we could bring in some substantial amendments on Committee Stage around surrogacy. In mid-September last year, I secured Government approval for the policy approach in respect of the regulation of international surrogacy. The Deputy will be aware that we have accepted nearly all the recommendations in the report. There were a few on which the officials came back and indicated they did not work. We have discussed these with various members of the group and the advocacy groups. People broadly agreed with them. Some were technical, while others where on protecting the surrogate, the intending parents or the child. I do not think there was any controversy around the proposed changes.

The formal drafting process by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, which is being done with the Departments of Health, Justice, and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, is well under way. It involves comprehensive drafting. As I have said to colleagues in the Dáil and Seanad and the advocacy groups, we have asked the three Departments to put together heads of Bill and then detailed legislation that ordinarily would take several years to complete. We have asked them to do this in a very short time and they have done so. I was happy that we were able to go to the Government before Christmas to get full approval. The drafting is well under way. I will need to bring the final detailed amendments back to the Cabinet for approval. I will then refer the Bill to the Joint Committee on Health and it will be in its hands. I expect, based on how committed everyone is to it, that the committee will find time as quickly as possible. It is crucial that the final detailed provisions are robust. The need to be able to withstand rigorous scrutiny considering the range and complexities involved and the rights of the various parties. It is entirely possible that aspects of the legislation will be challenged by different parties and it needs to be able to stand up to scrutiny. It is intended that the new parts, as well as the recognition of certain past surrogacy arrangements, will be introduced. We will, therefore, address retrospective and future-looking elements.

I reiterate my commitment to ensuring that both the goal for providing the route to formal recognition of past surrogacy arrangements or surrogacy arrangements in other jurisdictions is achieved and that a robust regulatory framework for AHR more broadly is put in place. The AHR Bill has been slightly lost in the very understandable focus on surrogacy but, apart from the surrogacy element, the AHR Bill is also very important. It provides the legislative framework for IVF and many other measures we intend to introduce later this year.

In short, my hope and intention is that we will be debating the legislation in the House in the summer term. I would love to have it through all the Houses and signed off by the President before the Dáil goes into recess.

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