Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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356. To ask the Minister for Health if he has considered any plans in relation to the introduction of legislation on surrogacy that would give legal status to parents whose child was born through the use of a surrogate; if these plans have considered retrospective parentage for parents who have currently been granted guardianship; if these plans have considered the need to extend parental leave and benefits to those parents whose child was born through the use of a surrogate; if these plans have considered the need to streamline this process and reduce the legal costs on parents whose child was born through the use of a surrogate in gaining their legal status as parents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51333/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, drafting of a bill on assisted human reproduction (AHR) and associated areas of research is ongoing by Department of Health officials, in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General. This legislation encompasses the regulation for the first time of a wide range of practices undertaken in this jurisdiction, including domestic altruistic surrogacy. 

The surrogacy provisions of the Bill outline the specific conditions under which surrogacy in Ireland will be permitted, including a requirement for all surrogacy agreements to be pre-authorised by the new AHR Regulatory Authority. The legislation also sets out a court-based mechanism through which the parentage of a child born through surrogacy may be transferred from the surrogate to the intending parent(s). 

Publication of the AHR Bill is a priority for the Department and the Government, and a commitment to enact this legislation is included in the Programme for Government, “Our Shared Future”. This Department will continue to engage intensively with the Office of the Attorney General in order to finalise this complex legislation. 

The question of whether provision should be made for the retrospective assignment of parentage in respect of children already born through surrogacy arrangements raises complex legal issues which will require detailed examination. 

Responsibility for parental leave comes under the remit of the Minister of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and that Department has informed my officials that legislative changes in respect of all forms of family leave must be developed in the context of the legal situation concerning parentage, including in relation to surrogacy. My officials have also been informed that some forms of family leave may currently be available to commissioning parents, including parental leave and parent’s leave. However, any further queries relating to such leave should be directed to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. 

Finally, as Minister for Health, I have no role in the matter of the level of legal costs which may be incurred in relation to the undertaking of an individual surrogacy agreement or any court applications arising from such an arrangement.