Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 September 2021
592. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Health the processes in place to ensure that parents of children born via assisted human reproduction such as IVF and surrogacy are able to secure legal guardianship of these children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46615/21]
View answerThe Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 (the Act of 2015), reforms and updates family law to address the needs of children living in diverse family types. The Minister for Health is responsible for Parts 2 and 3 of the Act of 2015 and these Parts commenced on 4 May 2020. Parts 2 and 3 deal with the issue of donor-assisted human reproduction.
Subject to certain conditions, the provisions of Parts 2 and 3 of the Act of 2015 provide for the parentage of donor-conceived children born after the commencement of Parts 2 and 3 and retrospective declarations of parentage for donor-conceived children born prior to the commencement of Parts 2 and 3.
On a broad level, issues related to legal guardianship – including responsibility for the provisions of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 – come under the remit of the Minister for Justice. Specifically, section 6B of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964, as inserted by the Act of 2015, provides for the guardianship of donor-conceived children to whom Parts 2 and 3 of the Act of 2015 apply.
The Act of 2015 does not make provisions in relation to the regulation of surrogacy. Provisions relating to domestic altruistic surrogacy are included in the forthcoming AHR legislation. The surrogacy provisions outline a court-based mechanism through which the parentage of a child born through surrogacy may be transferred from the surrogate (and her husband, if applicable) to the intending parent(s).
