Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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466. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 151 of 28 March 2023, the rationale for reducing the stillbirth registration criteria from 24 weeks to 23 weeks and 500 grammes to 400 grammes; the standards that guide this practice here and abroad; if consideration was given to the possibility of allowing all stillbirths to be registered should the parents wish to do so; the range of factors to be considered in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23896/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I am advised that in response to ongoing clinical advances in neonatal care, both nationally and internationally, the survival of premature infants born at 23-weeks gestation has improved. Increasingly, infants born at 23-weeks gestation are being offered resuscitation and neonatal intensive care. This is the experience both in Ireland and in other developed countries.

In that context, the HSE and the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland have produced a framework document in relation to the management of extreme pre-term birth. The framework document recommends that the threshold of foetal viability should be reduced from 24weeks gestation to 23-weeks gestation. It replaces the previous consensus document from 2006 which stated that the threshold of fetal viability was 24-weeks gestation. This framework document has been published at the following link:

Arising from this clinically informed reduction in the threshold of viability, and following engagement between my officials and the HSE, I accepted a recommendation that the definition of stillbirth, as used in the Civil Registration Act 2004, should be updated to reflect this lower threshold. As such, I am proposing to amend the definition of stillbirth to change the gestational age from 24 weeks to 23 weeks, along with a corresponding reduction in the existing weight criteria in the definition of stillbirth from 500 grammes to 400 grammes. The proposed amendment also includes an additional provision to enable the registration of children from multiple pregnancies (e.g. twins, triplets, etc) as stillborn in circumstances where they do not meet all of the clinical criteria of a stillborn child.

My officials are engaging with the Department of Social Protection to progress these legislative changes to ensure that the definition of stillbirth aligns with current clinical practice.