Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have a few words to say about amendment No. 6. The purpose of the amendment requires the provision of appropriate documentation whereby the donor of the gametes certifies having received independent counselling. The Minister sought to address it but not in a satisfactory way. There is a sense in which we cannot legislate in an extrajudicial fashion but we can certainly legislate to require certain things of foreign donors. I think it essential that we do. The purposes of the amendment is that people receive counselling prior to donating gametes so that they are fully aware that at some indeterminate future date they may be contacted by adults who are their biological children. A separate section rightly requires the Minister to refrain from recording or releasing relevant donor conceived personal information "unless the Minister is satisfied that the person has received counselling on the implications of his or her recording such a statement or, as the case may be, receiving such information." This is information that relates to the donor conceived person providing information on the register intended either for the donor or for a donor conceived sibling.

I have a separate proposed amendment on the age at which it is legitimate to make a donation. Donating gametes is not the same as donating blood and is a serious thing. In some cases, people donate gametes and get the price of a few drinks for doing so. It does not have to be commercialised for it to become a very casual transaction engaged in by people who are not yet mentally or emotionally mature for a longer term commitment of the type society wants to encourage, yet we do not require certification that they have received the necessary counselling. Our duty of care to such people, at a minimum, requires us to seek certification that people have received independent counselling about donating gametes and have not been browbeaten or encouraged in a casual or self-serving way by the industry or others to donate their gametes.