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

Again, this is a children and family relationships Bill dealing with the issues I have already outlined. It is not an assisted human reproduction Bill. There are elements of AHR in it but it is not an AHR Bill. That is a matter for address into the future. It is important to note that.

What we are trying to do is create a culture of openness. That is clear. There has not been a culture of openness in relation to AHR or donor-assisted human reproduction. That is the reality. There are probably hundreds of children who have been conceived using AHR and DAHR who do not know, and will never know, this unless their parents tell them. There is no public policy in this area. What we are doing through this legislation is putting in place a mechanism of public policy around consent and identity. We have already discussed each of those issues. This is a major shift away from anonymity and a lack of information. What this does, in the context of trying to create a culture of openness, is make it clear that parents will have secure parentage. I have also discussed that already. The parents know that the child will eventually be informed. They are being given a clear incentive to be open and honest with a child about his or her donor-conceived status. Currently, other than good parenting or people being sensitive to a child's identity and wanting to be open and truthful with them about their origins, there is no public policy imperative around this. What we are putting in place is a structure that allows for this. This is a major shift to ensure the child will have access to details regarding genetic information. That is a big change.

The point of contact is the national donor-conceived person's register. For example, when a person applies for a passport, he or she will be told, as in the case of adoption, that there is further information available. It is to be hoped it will not come as a surprise to the child to hear that. It is very important that parents ensure this is not the case. Gametes that are sourced from outside the jurisdiction but used here will also have to be accompanied by personal information. As I said, the practice in other countries varies. Some clinics have known donations and others have non-identifiable donations. Once this legislation becomes law, however, clinics here importing from other countries will be required to import only known donations. The obligation is on the clinics here to source identifiable donations. Clinics here are already in discussions with clinics abroad in that regard. For example, while clinics in Denmark deal with known and non-identifiable donations, clinics here will be permitted to import only known donations from Denmark. What we are doing is putting in place the public policy that ensures that more information will be known and made available to the child.

In regard to the proposals that there be ongoing contact by the donor with the clinics in terms of updating information on a constant basis, in my view these are unenforceable. I would not want them included in the legislation in case they would impact in any way on parentage. As I said already, issues such as the type of information that needs to be included on the consent forms have yet to be worked out. This Bill cannot come into effect until issues such as the consent forms and the regulations around them have been dealt with by the Department of Health.

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