Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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388. To ask the Minister for Health when legislation will be published dealing with international surrogacy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49345/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 (AHR Bill) passed Second Stage in the Dáil on March 23rd 2022 and has been referred to the Select Committee on Health for Third Stage.

The focus of this Bill is on the regulation, for the first time in this country, of a wide range of assisted human reproduction (AHR) undertaken in this jurisdiction exclusively, and particularly those carried out by the private fertility clinics operating here. I wish to progress this much-needed and long-awaited piece of historic legislation as quickly as possible to ensure that a robust regulatory framework for AHR is in place.

The published Bill does not contain provisions to regulate surrogacy arrangements undertaken in other jurisdictions. International surrogacy raises complex ethical questions concerning areas of law that intersect across the remits of several Government Departments and require detailed examination. The issues which arise from Irish people engaging in cross-border surrogacy primarily relate to parentage, guardianship, citizenship and, potentially, adoption.

Following the publication of the Special Oireachtas Joint Committee on International Surrogacy’s Final Report, a working Inter-Departmental Group was established to review the Report’s recommendations, along with other relevant matters, with the aim of determining an agreed policy position and suitable next steps, in the form of a unified Policy Paper and, as appropriate, legislative proposals.

Any policy and legislative proposals that may arise following the completion of the Departments’ examination of the Committee’s recommendations will require consideration and approval by Government. However, the clear intention of the Group, and that of Minister McEntee, Minister O’Gorman and myself, is that the appropriate vehicle for accommodating legislative proposals in respect of international surrogacy will be through the insertion of relevant provisions into the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 at Committee Stage.