Seanad debates

Thursday, 26 March 2015

Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of John CrownJohn Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:



In page 11, to delete lines 35 and 36 and substitute the following:“(a) a child born in the State, as a result of a DAHR procedure which was carried out after the commencement of this section, or”.
I welcome the Minister. Over the course of the day, we will find ourselves disagreeing a little on some issues and I know the Minister will not infer that I am in any sense disrespectful of the colossal effort that has gone into drafting this incredibly complex legislation which deals with a very complex set of issues which could never have been foreseen by the folks who authored our Constitution.

The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that a child who is born as a result of a donor-assisted human reproduction, DAHR, procedure will be born under the same legal regime as that under which he or she was conceived. The focus of Parts 2 and 3 is not birth but the DAHR process. The Bill does not emphasise genetic heritage but consent and, therefore, the intention of the intending parents and donors at the time of conception. Where women are pregnant as a result of an assisted reproduction procedure and the legal regime changes over the course of the pregnancy, treating the pregnancy as though it were conceived after the Bill has been signed into law would be an Act ofex post facto law and would be contrary to natural justice.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.