Seanad debates

Thursday, 26 March 2015

Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to explain why the age of 21 was set as a minimum for intending parents. This was arrived at in consultation with the Department of Health following policy work and research it had carried out in this area. The Department of Health advised that, while it would vary a bit depending on the cause, it takes approximately three years to arrive at a diagnosis of infertility. There may be other factors in the area in which Senator Crown specialises, but if an adult is seeking to become a parent in the earliest stage of adulthood it would take at least three years to have a diagnosis of infertility which would indicate donor-assisted human reproduction. It is for that reason, rather than any presumption of a greater level of maturity, physical or emotional, that 21 is set as the minimum age for intending parents.

Amendments Nos. 11 and 15 seek to reduce the minimum age to intending parents to 18, but the age has been set in close consultation with the Department of Health in order to dovetail with the period of adulthood it would take for the intending parent to have a diagnosis of infertility. The Department of Health has taken a clear policy line that the minimum age for donor-assisted human reproduction should be 21 to take account of the general rule that infertility cannot be diagnosed until a couple has failed to achieve a pregnancy over a period of three years. I am conscious that the infertility rule will not generally apply to same-sex couples and that infertility may in particular circumstances be clear at an earlier age. However, the significant majority of couples undertaking donor-assisted human reproduction procedures are opposite-sex couples, often with unexplained fertility, and the rule has sufficiently broad application to justify putting it on a statutory basis. That is the advice I have, and I hope Senators understand the reasoning behind the different ages.It is not an assumption about maturity in respect of males or females. It is based on the point regarding fertility, diagnosis and time and arises from a policy decision by the Department of Health, which makes sense.

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