Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

791. To ask the Minister for Health when section 232 of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024 will be commenced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37326/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

As the Deputy will be aware, Section 232 of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024 expands the circumstances under which a retrospective declaration of parentage can be granted to a second intending parent under the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 in respect of a child born following a donor-assisted human reproduction procedure which took place before commencement of the 2015 Act in May 2020.

Section 232 will amend Section 20 of the 2015 Act and allow for a declaration of parentage in circumstances where the procedure did not take place in a clinical setting and in cases where a known donor was used, providing that they consent to the granting of the declaration.

As these amendments concern procedures before the District and Circuit Court, it is necessary that the relevant Rules of Court are updated to reflect the changes to be introduced, and before Section 232 of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024 can be commenced.

Officials in my Department have been working with their colleagues in the Courts Service in the preparation of updated Rules of Court for the District and Circuit Courts. It is planned that the updated Rules will be ready for consideration by the relevant Rule Committees of the District and Circuit Courts at their next meetings, which take place in September and October.

Once these changes have been approved by the Committees, they will then need to be approved by the Minister for Justice. Following that approval it will be possible to commence Section 232 of the 2024 Act, which I intend to do as soon as practicable thereafter.