Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome our friends from Denmark. They are very welcome to Ireland even though they keep beating us in soccer and Christian Eriksen scores brilliant goals against us. We wanted to go to that World Cup but the Danish team beat us.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, for taking this important debate. I cannot think of anything more distressing or upsetting, other than a family member passing away, than a mother or a couple finding out they cannot have children. One of the most distressing parts after finding this out is that there are no supports available from the Government which recognise the challenges the couple then faces. I have spoken to a number of people who went through the process of initially finding this out and then on the journey through IVF treatment.Sometimes it is successful, which is brilliant, but sometimes it is not. Even if you are successful after one or two goes, the cost is significant. On average, it takes three goes. These are people who are predominantly in their late 20s, 30s and early 40s. They are working and are facing all of the bills and other costs of living that we are facing at the moment, but they want to have families. We are one of only two countries in the EU - the other is Lithuania - that does not provide any funding whatsoever. It is sometimes so frustrating that it feels like we are waiting for Lithuania to do this before we do so that we can be last. The State was founded on the basis of supporting families and the family network. If there is an example of how the State should be supporting families, it is supporting women and couples to have kids.

The National Infertility Support and Information Group, NISIG, has been operating for 25 years and supporting people going through this process. It has done a wonderful job in giving people information and preparing them for the journey ahead. It has essentially been doing this work itself; no one else is helping. It has made a proposal for the upcoming budget. I will go through some of its recommendations. These are simple recommendations that the Minister for Health committed to while in opposition and that are contained in the programme for Government. We just need to implement them quickly. The group recommends providing State IVF funding in line with the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 so that it comes into effect in 2023. That funding would include all other fertility treatments and blood tests undertaken by anyone within the WHO's definition of someone who is experiencing infertility. Importantly, a model should be introduced whereby private clinics can provide State-funded treatment until such time as publicly-funded treatment is provided. People should continue to be allowed to reclaim tax benefits on any privately undertaken fertility treatments in Ireland. The drug prescription medical card must be kept in place for the long term to help alleviate the cost of prescriptions associated with assisted human reproduction, AHR, treatment. Counselling support is also important for part of the fertility treatment journey. If someone who was going through anything else that was emotionally distressing attended a doctor, the doctor would give him or her advice on where to go for counselling. In the case of fertility services, though, it seems that the doctor is meant to provide the counselling. That is not credible. The NISIG is the only charity dealing with this issue. It does incredible work, but it needs to be financially supported next year and beyond.

Infertility is not normally spoken about. We need a campaign similar to the ongoing one on contraception. We need to open up a conversation about this matter. Few women and, in particular, men like to talk about this issue. One in six people or couples suffer from infertility, yet it is not talked about to that extent.

These recommendations need to be implemented as a matter of urgency. For obvious reasons, people only have a certain time in which to have children. Most people only find out that they have infertility issues later than expected, that is, when they are trying to have children. No one goes into a clinic at 21 or 22 years of age to find out whether he or she has infertility issues. That happens in someone's mid-30s. People's time to have a child is limited from then on. The cost element is significant. People have to make decisions about whether to pay their mortgages and bills or whether to try to start a family, and it always comes around to the question of whether it will even work. We need to show that, as a Government, we care about and want to support these people and that we want them to have the opportunity to start a family and make that journey in life. It is a difficult journey, but let us try to make it a little easier for them.