Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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777. To ask the Minister for Health when legislation recognising international surrogacy alongside retrospective declaration of parentage will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52910/21]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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852. To ask the Minister for Health if the forthcoming Assisted Human Reproduction Bill will legislate for both domestic surrogacy and international surrogacy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52219/21]

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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887. To ask the Minister for Health when the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill will be published; the steps he is taking to create a legislative framework to govern surrogacy in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52320/21]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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928. To ask the Minister for Health if the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill will legislate for international surrogacy; if not, the rationale for excluding same; when it is expected to be legislated for; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52495/21]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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933. To ask the Minister for Health if he will legislate for international surrogacy as part of the forthcoming assisted human reproduction Bill; the reason there will be a delay in legislating for international surrogacy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52516/21]

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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957. To ask the Minister for Health if surrogacy will be included in the proposed assisted human reproduction Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52672/21]

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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958. To ask the Minister for Health when legislation recognising international surrogacy alongside retrospective declaration of parentage will be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52673/21]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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960. To ask the Minister for Health when legislation recognising international surrogacy alongside retrospective declaration of parentage will be targeted to be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52680/21]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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961. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to exclude surrogacy from the upcoming assisted human reproduction Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52681/21]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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964. To ask the Minister for Health the date regarding the assisted human reproduction Bill on which he plans to include the recognition of international surrogacy; the steps he has taken to date in preparation for that provision; and his plans to legislate for the provision of retrospective declaration of parentage (details supplied). [52690/21]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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981. To ask the Minister for Health if the Government will only legislate for domestic surrogacy and not international surrogacy in the forthcoming assisted human reproduction Bill and will not deal with international surrogacy until a later date (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52752/21]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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1017. To ask the Minister for Health if it is intended to exclude surrogacy from the upcoming assisted human reproduction Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52909/21]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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1023. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to exclude international surrogacy from the upcoming assisted human reproduction Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52948/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 777, 852, 887, 928, 933, 957, 958, 960, 961, 964, 981, 1017 and 1023 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, drafting of a bill on assisted human reproduction (AHR) and associated areas of research is ongoing by officials in my Department, 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 my 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 draft Bill does not contain provisions to regulate surrogacy arrangements undertaken in other jurisdictions, nor does it provide for retrospective declarations of parentage. Issues which arise from the undertaking of surrogacy arrangements in other jurisdictions and the assignment of retrospective parentage concern areas of law that intersect across the remits of several Government Departments and require detailed examination. My Department is engaging with the Department of Justice and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in respect of these matters.

Overall, the provisions outlined within the Bill will ensure that AHR practices and related areas of research are conducted in a more consistent and standardised way and with the necessary oversight.