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

It is something intrinsic to a person's sense of self. If we took Senator Crown's proposed route, we would fly in the face of the recommendations made by the joint committee after it examined the public policy aspects of this issue. We would also be ignoring emerging international best practice and the spirit of the provisions in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child on the right to identity. The golden thread running through this Bill is the best interest of the child. We would be putting that principle to one side.

There is growing consensus internationally regarding non-anonymous gamete donation that identifying information about donors should be released to donor conceived children on request, once they have reached a specific age or stage of maturity. This increased focus on transparency and openness in donations stems from the argument that individuals have a fundamental interest in their biological and genetic origins. It has been argued that the ability of individuals to know their genetic origin is at the core of self-identity. A number of comments and reviews of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child have been invoked in support of the child's right to know his or her genetic parents. Many would say, for example, that relevant provisions include Article 3, which posits the best interest of the child as a primary consideration, Article 7, which provides that children have a right to a name and a nationality, and Article 8, which provides that State parties should undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognised by law without unlawful interference and that where a child is illegally deprived of some or all elements of his or her identity that State parties should provide appropriate assistance and protection with a view to re-establishing his or her identity. It is very much in the spirit of the UN convention to provide for identifiable donations.

A number of jurisdictions have prohibited anonymous donations, including anonymous gamete donation. These include Austria; New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia in Australia; Finland; the Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Switzerland; and the UK. In other Australian states and territories which lack specific legislation, AHR providers can voluntarily seek accreditation from the appropriation accreditation committee in their area. Such accreditation requires that they uphold national guidelines providing that they only use gametes donated non-anonymously. There is a move towards this internationally. Sweden moved to this model some 30 years ago. The UK changed its legislation in 2005 to enable donor conceived children to request the identity of their donor from the authority established there. We do not have an authority yet but we will proceed towards establishing one once the broader AHR legislation is in place. Ideally there also will be a centralised register in which information can be stored and accessed. Most countries which have moved in this direction have developed registers.

I acknowledge Senator Craughwell's point that parents are often reluctant to inform their children that they were conceived with donor gametes due to concerns about the possible psychological impact this could have on the children and the family structure. However, the professional bodies working in this area, including the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, support disclosure and there is a growing professional movement in the direction of encouraging disclosure. There is an increasing tendency to openness and transparency on gamete donation and non-anonymity.

Senator Power has spoken on several occasions about the comparisons with adoption. I realise there are also differences but our approach to adoption was formerly secretive and there was a lack of basic information. We have almost moved to a situation of open adoption, whereby everything is known and there is ongoing contact. I accept the issues arising are different but there are some parallels.

Research suggests that the age of disclosure is important in determining the child's response to being donor conceived. Like adoption, those told at an earlier age have a less negative experience and families benefit from openness about the child's genetic origins. There is an interesting debate in this regard but I do not doubt that a Bill dealing with children and family relationships should observe the basic principle of upholding the best interest of the child. I feel strongly that the right of access to genetic information is a key part of this. For these reasons, I will not be accepting the amendments.

Non-anonymous identifiable donations are already available. From my discussions with the clinics, it is clear that they can request identifiable donations.That will take time, because up to now Irish clinics have not been asking for that and have used anonymous donations. There would need to be a transition period and clinics abroad would need to be informed by clinics here of the standards we are including in our legislation and the kind of information that would need to be available. I appreciate the concerns raised, but I am told that even when the legislation was introduced in the United Kingdom, there was a change initially, but then donations increased again.

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