Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this very sensitive matter and for giving me, on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, the opportunity to inform the House of the up-to-date position on the provision of publicly funded fertility services. The Senator and I will both appreciate the fact the Minister cannot comment on individual cases.

As part of the final phase of the roll-out of the model of care for fertility, referrals for publicly funded, privately provided IVF or other assisted human reproduction, AHR, treatment commenced in September 2023. The criteria that prospective patients should meet to access fully funded AHR services were agreed by the Department and the HSE and subsequently approved by the Government in July 2023. The criteria were agreed following consultation with experts in the field of reproductive medicine and include limits in respect of the age of the intending birth mother, body mass index and the number of children a couple already have. These are very much in keeping with those applied in other jurisdictions, even though in most European countries, for instance, such treatments are only partially funded and require often significant out-of-pocket payments by patients.Decisions in respect of any proposed changes to the access criteria and-or the range of services provided through the publicly funded AHR treatment initiative require further extensive consultation between Department of Health officials and colleagues in the HSE and also with relevant specialists in the field of reproductive medicine. This process is under way.

Posthumous assisted human reproduction, PAHR, is defined in the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024 as AHR treatment involving the use of the gametes of a person, or of an embryo created by the use of such gametes, subsequent to the death of such person. The Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024 includes provisions which will introduce regulation of PAHR but this legislation has not been commenced to date. A key condition in the legislation for PAHR to be permitted is that the relevant AHR treatment should not begin prior to 12 months having passed from the death of the relevant deceased intending parent. This is to allow for an appropriate period of reflection and mourning for the surviving partner and space for her to be certain that she wishes to proceed with PAHR in the new circumstances of her life. The Department of Health understands that, in the few countries which specifically provide for PAHR, there is such a required post-death period. There is also a requirement in the 2024 Act that the deceased person and the surviving partner would have received appropriate counselling and advice on issues in respect of succession rights, for instance, before providing their fully informed consent to PAHR, parentage of an as-yet-unborn child and the implications of same. The provision of treatment related to PAHR is not part of the services currently funded through the publicly funded AHR treatment initiative. I will finish following the Senator's response.