Results 3,301-3,320 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: If it works for the Senator, I can ask the Department to come back to him with a detailed note, if we want to keep moving through the sections. Alternatively, I am more than happy to endeavour to answer the question now. Whatever works-----

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I think there are two different questions here. One relates to embryos that are created and the second deals with the case of posthumous donor assisted human reproduction where one of the intending parents dies. On the first, any embryos created would be treated in exactly the same way they are now and have been for many years. There are embryos created through IVF and through existing...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: It depends. In the case of a man and a woman, if the embryo has a genetic link to the man and the man dies and if there is a posthumous agreement in place going into IVF, it is their choice to decide what they want to do in the case of one of them passing away. If they do sign something authorising their partner to continue with assisted human reproduction in the case of their death, if it...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: Is the Senator asking what happens if he is the one who dies?

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: It is a man, donor assisted,-----

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: -----with no other partner involved and he dies.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: The embryo would be disposed of in the same way that they are through IVF surrogacy now and have been for many years.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Senator for his questions. As he has read out, the regulatory authority will have very broad powers in determining the appropriateness of the applicants for surrogacy.As was absolutely clear through the draft legislation, it is the safety of the child which comes first and foremost. I have been told that there is a misunderstanding circulating on social media, for example,...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: Many different issues have been raised and I will endeavour to go through them. I will start by making a point on some of the comments made around the rights or suitability of two men or two women to raise a child. People have their own view and I will not try to dissuade anyone of their views; they are what they are. I will say in a personal capacity and as Minister for Health and a...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: Senator Ruane made the point that there may be people who are carrying offences, such as a minor drugs possession charge from years ago. She made the point that there could be prejudicial assessment against people from lower-income families or communities. That is exactly why we are giving the regulatory authority the powers to assess on a case-by-case basis but they are assessing based on...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Senator. He is asking a question that I believe is a rhetorical measure, which is asking what if everything fails. We can ask that about anything. We can ask that about anything in our entire State: what if the courts fail; or the roads authority; or the HSE; or the doctors and nurses; or the police; or the Oireachtas. You can ask that about anything – any law or...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: However, everything is based on the information available. Decisions cannot be based on information that is not available. Any decisions that any State agency makes, any clinical decision that any doctor makes or any decision that any judge makes on any given day is based on the information available. There is nothing weak in saying it is based on the facts. That is essentially what that...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I ask the Chair for a steer. I would very much like to make a final contribution. If a vote is called, will we be able to reconvene after it for final comments? Is that in order?

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: That is outstanding.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Senator Seery Kearney for her heartfelt, sincere, thought-provoking and personal contribution. There will be panic around Ireland if one in three fathers are not, in fact, the genetic fathers of their children. I thank her for clarifying that this statistic relates to fathers for whom a test is required as part of court proceedings. Without that clarification, there could be...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: That is not a view to which I subscribe. All combinations of people, whether two women, two men, a man and a woman, one woman or one man, can be, and regularly are, fantastic parents. For all the reasons we have discussed, that is, of course, being legislated for in the Bill. We are setting out the pathway for single parents. One of the questions asked was what happens if the intending...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I will wrap up on this if the Leas-Chathaoirleach can give me a little bit of leniency of this. It is unlikely that the parents would not apply.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: It is unlikely but in the case that it does happen, depending on the circumstances, if the child is already with the intending parents and they for some reason did not make an application for the parental order, the current laws would apply in terms of guardianship or parentage due to a genetic link but the other partner would not get the parental order, which is, of course, the entire...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to say a few words. What I want to say is this: this legislation matters. It matters to the hundreds and possibly thousands of children who have been born through surrogacy and to their mums and dads, some of whom have never had full parental rights for their own children. I have met many of them. I received a beautiful video from two of them...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I refer to her extraordinarily brave representations. Her contributions to the debate were very personal. People can be left feeling vulnerable when they expose themselves in that way. I acknowledge the Senator's contributions. I also acknowledge Senators Catherine Ardagh and Fiona O’Loughlin, who have been pushing on this, and pushed very hard on IVF to get that through as well. ...