Seanad debates

Thursday, 26 March 2015

Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Jim WalshJim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response. At the outset, I acknowledge that it is a very complex area. I drafted a Bill relating to it about three years ago and tried to tease it out as best I could. Ultimately, I was not satisfied. I met with Dr. Joanna Rose, who the Minister probably knows. I suggested to the Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality that she be one of the invitees when this was considered but it did not happen. This is a pity because she would have given an informed view from somebody who has been working and fighting this and who has gone through the courts in Great Britain with some success. She knows exactly what the effects on people produced through AHR are.

I put down an amendment opposing this section so that it can be looked at and I will talk about that later when we come to the section. I will concentrate on amendment No. 28. I accept the point the Minister makes, which I think was made by Senator Bacik as well, that there are many families, particularly married couples, who are challenged with infertility. It is a problem. I know how much they desired to have a child and that they have taken steps to achieve that aim. We should use science in a positive way to assist the natural process as far as we possibly can.

The purpose of putting down this amendment was to confine the donor-assisted human reproduction to married mother-and-father couples and to facilitate only assigning parentage of a child conceived through AHR to a married man and woman, thus providing for a child having a mother and father who are married to each other. It is done in the best interests of the child. My rationale is that assigning parentage to a married man and woman is something several European countries do and would give maximum protection to the welfare rights, needs and interests of donor-conceived children. Marriage is the ultimate and most binding relationship commitment. Insisting that the intending parents be married would ensure that they are able to provide a child with a stable environment and are legally committed to each other as mother and father.

Natural human reproduction provides children with an identifiable mother and father. In regulating AHR, we should try to ensure that the children who result are not denied the rights other children enjoy, including the right to know and as far as possible, be raised by their parents - mother and father. If Irish AHR laws do not protect the child's natural presumptive right to a mother and father, they discriminate against children conceived using AHR. This is a serious discriminatory step we are taking. Marriage is the best guarantee of a child growing up in a stable mother-and-father family.

The Minister is probably aware of the Evans case in Great Britain which shows the importance of requiring that only married couples be allowed access AHR. Natalie Evans started IVF treatment with her cohabiting partner who was not her husband. Following the creation of embryos and prior to their implementation, the couple split and her partner requested that the embryos be destroyed. Ms Evans wanted to continue with the implementation. She had, unfortunately, been diagnosed with ovarian cancer so the embryos represented her only chance of having biologically related children. The case became a bitter legal battle that ultimately found its way to European Court of Human Rights, so clarity is essential and the best interests of the child are paramount.

I have listened carefully and respect what the Minister had to say. She said that she is looking at reality. She mentioned single mothers and the numbers who are involved, which are remarkable. I think 36% of children are born outside of marriage. I spoke on Second Stage about my own experience and the experience I have in dealing with mothers who find it extremely difficult. A recent CSO report showed the poverty that exists among children reared in one-parent families. They are seriously financially challenged. The mother makes enormous personal sacrifices in the interests of her child or children and this needs to be respected and supported.

However, we also need to recognise that there is a requirement to ensure that the State does not stand back. This is why I have to disagree greatly with the approach the Minister is taking. The State should not be neutral about the best interests of children. Any mother who is a single parent will admit without hesitation that if she had a supportive husband or partner, her situation and that of her child would be far better. I pointed out how the cost of this is enormous. I pointed out the US figures. No research has been done on it here but Great Britain has carried out exercises. I think $112 billion per year is spent in the US and it is a minimum of £15 billion in Great Britain so it is very significant. Even from an Exchequer point of view, leaving aside the interests of the people themselves, there should be a huge compunction on the State not to stand back and be a spectator on the sideline but to actively support what is in the best interests of the child, which is couples working together.

The Minister mentioned diverse family types. There have been a lot of studies on various forms of families. On Second Stage, I pointed out the fragmentation of families in Great Britain but fragmentation of families is not a good thing. It is a reality, as the Minister noted, but that does not mean it is a good thing and I think throwing a legislative umbrella over everything that exists and hoping it will go away is not the right answer. We need to steer society in a way that is in the interests of everybody, particularly those unfortunate people who end up rearing children on their own. I have no hesitation in fighting for the rights of fathers to have access to their children but I am equally as strong about ensuring that those fathers have a responsibility to support the mother of those children and the children themselves. That should be the reality.

I have looked at other countries. I took an interest in the list of countries the Minister gave. She mentioned that if we accepted the amendments I have put down, the European Court of Human Rights would have a problem. In Germany, assisted human reproduction is only utilised for married couples and only the sperm of the husband should be used. If donor sperm is used, additional requirements must be met. Germany also allows an unmarried woman to access it if she has a stable relationship with an unmarried man who acknowledges paternity. Donor insemination may not be performed on women who are not in a stable relationship or who are in a homosexual relationship.

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